From Prey Sar to Wat Koh
Aug 2nd, 2006 by Jinja
From Prey Sar to Wat Koh
How did I end up here? I thought as the police started pushing the crowd back. We were near Prey Sar prison. Several of my friends had mentioned this protest and I’d come along as if it was a book launch. Foolish Jinja.
Half of the people – Khmer or Barang – seemed to have a camera (or a camera phone). They were prepared; just as there’s a little sub-culture of arts people in Cambodia, so there’s a network of activists. In a Western country there’d be more overlap but here there is very little political activism in the art world.
I can’t say the police were exactly chasing the protesters, as KI-Media highlights in red type.
But they certainly weren’t happy. As they hustled people along, whistles tweeting, shouting, I couldn’t help but look at the direction we were going. “Are they going to herd us to Soriya Centre?” Nope, sorry, no demonstrations; why don’t you go shopping instead?
We ended up in Wat Koh, and I could see the police and crowd begin to visibly relax once we were on the grounds. While not everyone here is a devout Buddhist, conflict inside a Wat would break all kinds of social rules.
The protesters unfurled their banners and the family members released birds into the air, an act of symbolic merit that would have been much more appropriate outside the prison. After some photos and talk people began to melt away due to noonday heat.
You can read more of the backstory at
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGASA230082006
or at the Licadho or CCHR sites.
Lasting impression? The quiet, polite determination of the family members of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, awash in noisy press, shouting police and chattering Phnompenhois.
Tags: Cambodia
