Bridges Delivers Emergency Aid to Families Violently Evicted from their Homes in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Bridges monitored the court proceedings of the thirteen men arrested which resulted in nine convictions with light sentences, and four acquittals. The Prosecutor has appealed the verdict on the grounds that the sentences were too light and the men remain in prison pending an appeal that could take up to one year. Bridges has since launched an urgent appeal for action, which can be accessed at the link below. |
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Bridges Across Borders delivered emergency relief in the wake of the violent eviction of over 100 families in the Mittepheap district of Sihanoukville early this July. The brutal force used by 150 police, military police and armed forces to remove the villagers from their homes marks yet another example of the unrelenting epidemic of land grabbing and forced evictions that is sweeping Cambodia. Two tons of rice, mosquito nets and tarpaulins were distributed by Bridges as a temporary relief for the families who are now forced to dwell in makeshift shacks along the road after their homes and belongings were set ablaze by the Cambodian authorities.
The April 30th eviction was carried out in response to an order by the Mayor of Sihanoukville to forcibly settle a land dispute between the villagers and the wife of an advisor to a senior government official. The Mayor’s eviction order sided with the powerful party, despite the fact that she has not publicly demonstrated evidence of her claims to the land, as many of the villagers have, and was issued without any resolution of the dispute by the courts as is required by the law. The government forces were armed with full riot gear, AK 47s, electric batons and sticks, an excavator and two fire trucks allegedly filled with gasoline, They fired live ammunition into the village. Some of the villagers threw stones at the authorities in a desperate attempt to protect their property. The violence resulted in five women and thirteen men being severely beaten, some of whom were rendered unconscious, including a 77-year old man. Families were not allowed in their houses to retrieve their belongings and sixteen motorbikes were confiscated by the authorities, who then proceeded to burn down or demolish all the houses and their contents. 
The destitute families have since been residing on the roadside in front of where their homes once stood. They lack access to even the most basic living essentials and they face the monsoon season and the worst dengue fever epidemic in Cambodia in recent memory. Their village is now surrounded by a giant fence that was erected by the woman who claims ownership to the land.