Land-Grabbing

25, April 2009.

Company workers descended on Borei Reak Reay
About 80 villagers, holding hands, blocked three bulldozers and an excavator from filling in the rest of the lake underneath their stilted homes. They foiled two attempts by company workers to take their property. Workers then called in reinforcements to block the villagers’ movement, and continued their work.
Seeing that their attempts were futile, a group of a dozen villagers went to CPP head quarters where Prime Minister Hun Sen was holding a meeting. Police met them at the gate and told them to leave or be arrested.

“At least 60 families living in the Reak Reay community, Tonle Bassac commune, Chamkarmon district, Phnom Penh, are facing imminent forced eviction. The families have been residing in the prime-city location since the 1990s, and have valid rights to the land under the Cambodian Land Law. The families have been resisting forced eviction attempts by Bassac Garden City and Canadia Bank since 2005. The companies want to evict the families to develop the land into a high-end residential area. In early March, construction
workers began erecting a fence around the community’s houses. Since 15 March, construction workers have begun demolishing houses one by one. As of 16 March, at least 17 houses have been demolished.” Human Rights Task Force, March 16, 2009.

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