Cambodian military police carry out an eviction of slum-dwellers in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. With a new area of the city being designated as a free speech zone police have vowed to "crack down" on any unauthorised rallies outside government buildings or Prime Minister Hun Sen's home, another popular protest site. (AFP/File)
by Suy Se – Thu Sep 30
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – It has been billed as Cambodia's version of Speakers' Corner in London, but rights groups fear Phnom Penh's new Democracy Square is designed to keep protesters isolated and out of sight.
Workers are putting the final touches to a 60 by 200 metre (yard), tree-lined open space near the US embassy and the Cambodian capital's famed Wat Phnom temple, which historically marks the centre of the city.
Nicknamed Freedom Park and set to open shortly, it will serve as a designated area for people to air their grievances, not unlike Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park or its equivalent in Singapore.
But rights activists say the move is an attempt to keep protesters off the streets and away from government offices and legislative buildings, which are traditionally the focus of rallies and occasional scuffles with the police.
"Unfortunately, it is far away from the institutions where the decisions are made," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, adding that he would have preferred a site near the National Assembly.
While would-be protesters can still apply for permission to stage a demonstration in other parts of the capital, critics expect the government will use Democracy Square as an excuse not to grant such permission.
"When the park opens, the protesters will lose the freedom to protest in front of key institutions," Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, told AFP.
"They will be threatened and forced to rally at Freedom Park."
Yim Sovann, an outspoken member of parliament from the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party, echoed those concerns.
"It will not be a Freedom Park, but a park to deprive the people of freedom and rights," he said.
He added that the square, an open, unshaded space in a city where temperatures regularly top 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), is too small to accommodate a sizeable crowd.
"We will not stand under the hot sun in such a small place. We will ask for a permit to march through the streets if necessary," he told AFP.
But Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth warned that no more street protests would be allowed because they interrupt the flow of traffic.
He added that police would "crack down" on any unauthorised rallies outside government buildings or Prime Minister Hun Sen's home, another popular protest site.
Last month villagers from Battambang province protesting outside the premier's home about land grabbing were "quite aggressively dragged onto buses" and driven out of town, said Mathieu Pellerin of local rights group Licadho.
And in August 2009, again outside the premier's house, a number of opposition supporters were injured after clashing with police who were seen grabbing, punching and kicking protesters.
Cambodia's government has repeatedly been accused of trying to stifle free speech in the last year.
Last October, it passed a much-criticised law requiring protesters to seek official permission five days ahead of a planned rally and limiting the size of demonstrations in public spaces to 200 people.
Authorities also reserve the right to ban protests on safety grounds.
In a report released earlier this month, Licadho accused the government of continuing to "pursue repressive tactics, terrorising human rights defenders and undermining their ability to defend peacefully the rights of others."
"Now, we see that when rights defenders speak too much, they could end up in jail," the group's president Kek Galabru told AFP.
"Freedom of expression is facing challenges -- it's going down," she said.
But government officials insisted the human rights situation in the country was improving and the park was a good idea, modelled on foreign examples.
"Any country has this kind of place. People can protest and say whatever they want in this place," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Phnom Penh's Democracy Square will not be Cambodia's only version of Speakers' Corner, as the law calls for similar sites to open in provinces across the country, much to the dismay of activists.
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