Protesting Market Evictions, Vendors Block Nat’l Road 5

More than 300 vendors blocked National Road 5 in Kompong Speu province’s Odong district for 10 hours yesterday after discovering that their stalls had been shut down and their belongings confiscated by authorities, human rights workers said. Chheng Sophors, senior monitor for the rights group Licadho, said vendors began protesting at about 8 am when they arrived at the roadside market and saw that their belongings had been removed overnight. “All the stuff belonging to the vendors was gone, so the vendors got angry and started to protest,” Mr Sophors said. “They demanded that their belongings be returned and they be allowed to returned selling in the same place.”Authorities want the vendors to move into a newly created market that was built by a private firm where they will have to pay fees. Rather than trying to move the protesting vendors out of the road, Vaing Chas commune authorities tried to divert traffic around the demonstration. “I can’t say how many cars were stuck,” said Yin Sovannarith, a commune police official. “We are trying to release the traffic jam by letting cars go by on another road.” Al though the protesters said the action by authorities to confiscate their belongings had caught them unaware, district governor Pou Nov said authorities had given notice two days ago telling them that they had to move. We allowed them to sell on the road for years,” he said, adding that the vendors had made it so a newly paved road was impassible, even for motorcycles or bicycles. Vendor Bun Thavy, 31, who has been selling vegetables at the market for 10 years, said she was protesting because the authorities wanted to move them to a new, private market, she could not afford the rent. “I paid 600 riel per day for [a space of] 3 square meters,” Ms Thavy said. “We tried to meet with the authorities to compromise about moving to the new market, since we are poor and cannot afford to pay 2,500 riel per day for one square meter” at the new market