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 Chaos during nationwide strikes erupted for a second day as
security forces were deployed to halt a demonstration by thousands
of workers, who refused to move and threw bottles, stones and petrol
bombs at an industrial zone in Phnom Penh.
The clash represents an escalation of a political crisis in
Cambodia, where striking workers and anti-government protesters have
come together in a loose movement led by the opposition Cambodia
National Rescue Party (CNRP).
Unions representing disgruntled garment workers have joined
opposition supporters protesting against the government of Prime
Minister Hun Sen to demand a re-run of an election in July that the
opposition says was rigged.
Military police confronting the protesters fired live ammunition,
Reuters journalists said, and bullet casings were later seen
scattered across the ground at the scene.
The clashes took place at Canadia Industrial Park in Phnom Penh,
home to dozens of factories that make clothing for western brands
that include Adidas, Puma and H&M Hennes & Mauritz.
Human rights group LICADHO described the incident as "horrific" and
lambasted military police, adding that their own investigation and
surveys of hospitals had found four people were killed and 21
wounded.
"We condemn this appalling use of extreme lethal force by security
forces", the group's director, Naly Pilorge, said in a statement.
"Security forces must now put an immediate end to the use of live
ammunition against civilians."
Spokesmen for the national police and military police said they
could not verify the number of casualties.
It followed a crackdown on Thursday outside a Yakjin (Cambodia) Inc
factory in another part of the city, when armed troops struck
demonstrators with batons, wounding 20 people. Yakjin is a maker of
clothing for Gap and Walmart .
The CNRP, led by former finance minister Sam Rainsy, has courted
some 350,000 garment workers from nearly 500 factories across the
country by promising to nearly double the monthly minimum wage to
$160 if it wins a re-run of the July election, which Hun Sen is
refusing to hold.
CRISIS OVER WAGES
The opposition alleges 2.3 million of its votes were stolen to allow
the ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP) to return to office. The
CPP won 68 seats in the election to the CNRP's 55, according to the
National Election Committee, but the CNRP says the commission is one
of many agencies under CPP influence.
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The government is refusing to raise the wage beyond $100 a
month and has ordered factories to reopen to prevent damage and job
losses in an industry worth $5 billion a year to what is one of the
world's poorest countries.
Cheath Khemera, a senior labor officer at the Garment Manufacturers
Association in Cambodia (GMAC) told Reuters it was too soon to
assess the cost of the strikes, but he estimated each factory could
be losing $20,000-$30,000 a day.
"This really impacts the industry seriously," he said.
Until this week, security forces had exercised restraint to try to
cool tempers as pressure mounted on a government facing some of the
biggest protests ever seen in Cambodia.
The strikes and rallies represent a rare challenge to the 28-year
rule of Hun Sen, who has been credited with attracting investment
and creating jobs in what was once a failed state scarred by war and
the bloody 1970s Khmer Rouge era.
He has also earned a reputation for being intolerant of opposition
and rights groups say abuses are common.
Hun Sen's rule was tested last year when a once weak opposition of
various parties amalgamated and won votes from Cambodians upset by
low wages, graft and a substantial number of forced evictions from
farmland and city slums.
Garment manufacturing is Cambodia's biggest foreign currency earner,
a major employer and a vital source of income for many rural
families who complain they can barely survive on the wages that are
lower than neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.
Many Western brands outsource footwear and apparel to Cambodian
factories, in part because labor is cheaper than China.
(Additional reporting Pring Samrang; writing by Martin Petty;
editing by Robert Birsel)
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