MP ‘injured’ at border #Vietnam

[geovalin]

Meas Sokchea and Taing Vida

More than a dozen people were injured in a clash yesterday afternoon, when two opposition party lawmakers led some 200 Cambodians to inspect the Cambodia-Vietnam border in Svay Rieng province.

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers Real Camerin and Um Sam An yesterday led nearly 200 youths, monks and Svay Rieng residents towards the border crossing in Kampong Ro district, said Sin Noeun, a border police chief.

Noeun alleged that when the group, which had been denied permission by Vietnamese officials to inspect a road being constructed in Vietnam that some argue encroaches on Cambodian territory, arrived at 2:30pm, they were attacked.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mp-injured-border

[Manbing]

ASEAN relations going well then.

[little mary sunshine]

Oh, not a Visa Run.....

[ggt]

“I was beaten severely by Vietnamese authorities and villagers on my neck and near my eyes,” Camerin said in an interview yesterday.

"Actions speak louder than words"...the Cambodians had already been verbally warned not to approach the area under dispute...

Sounds like a great place to have a military confrontation...

Children will be children...

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Cambodia accuses opposition activists of creating insecurity along border with Vietnam

Monday, 29 June 2015; News by Xinhua

PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Svay Rieng Provincial Administration has accused a group of opposition party led by a lawmaker of creating insecurity along border with Vietnam after the group scuffled with Vietnamese villagers over a disputed border area on Sunday.

In a statement released to the media on Monday, the spokesman for the Svay Rieng Provincial Administration said the brawl, occurred on Sunday afternoon in Svay Rieng provincial border with Vietnam, left 10 Cambodians and 8 Vietnamese people injured.

The statement said the border inspection trip of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party led by its lawmaker Real Camerin had not been noticed to the provincial or local authorities for security and safety protection.

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12712/cambodia-accuses-opposition-activists-of-creating-insecurity-along-border-with-vietnam/

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Vietnam hopes to develop peaceful, friendship borderline with Cambodia: spokesperson

HANOI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam attaches great importance to the relationship with Cambodia and hopes to develop a peaceful and friendship borderline with the country, said Le Hai Binh, spokesperson of Vietnamese foreign ministry on Tuesday.

Binh made the remark in response to reporters'inquiries over a recent scuffle incident happened at the border area between Vietnam and Cambodia. "We strongly criticize the violent activities caused by extremists in Cambodia. The activities violated the legal regulations of both sides, and treaties, agreements signed between the two countries, affecting the process of demarcation as well as the fine relations between Vietnam and Cambodia," Binh said on the ministry's website. "We request Cambodian competent authorities to soon have adequate measures to deal with the incident, prevent similar activities from happening, ensure the work of demarcation for common interests of the two nations," Binh said.

readmore: http://www.globalpost.com/article/6599570/2015/06/30/vietnam-hopes-develop-peaceful-friendship-borderline-cambodia

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Vietnam, Cambodia Border Brawl Sparks Recriminations

Colin Nguyen, Sok Khemara

June 30, 2015 2:32 PM

A border brawl between hundreds of Cambodians and Vietnamese is drawing allegations of misconduct from both sides and significant social media attention in both countries.

At least 10 people were injured Sunday when a group of Cambodians, led by opposition lawmaker Real Camerin, tried to visit a disputed land marker in Svay Rieng province bordering Vietnam.

Vietnamese Cambodian monk Thach Ny, who was at the scene, told VOA hundreds of people were blocked by Vietnamese border guards and civilians.

"Their border guards carried weapons and their people held wooden sticks. They crossed into Cambodian territory and hit us," he said.

However, Phan Van On, chairman of Hoa Binh Tay commune, which is near Svay Rieng, rejected that allegation, saying his force was provoked and was attacked first.

“We deployed border guards to prevent the Cambodians," he said. "They pushed this force into Vietnamese territory, and used metal flag pole to beat us."

Photos and videos posted on Vietnamese and Cambodian social media showed the crowds from two sides faced off in a tense atmosphere, with occasional fights between small groups from each side.

Phan Van On said this is the first confrontation in years on the long border that Phnom Penh shares with Vietnam.

Um Sam An, a lawmaker with the Cambodian National Rescue Party who was with the border group, told VOA that bilateral negotiations have not solved the border problems.

“We’ve asked the government to file a complaint to the International Court of Justice,” he said.

on Tuesday, Le Hai Binh, spokesman of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, urged Cambodian officials to solve the issue and facilitate a demarcation process, so as not to let the incident repeat in the future.

Tension has mounted after Cambodia accused Vietnam of illegally digging eight ponds inside Cambodian territory and constructing a military outpost in a disputed area.

In his statement, spokesman Le Hai Binh did not respond to those allegations.

Cambodian officials, including national police spokesman Keat Chantharith, have declined to comment on the clash.

This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Vietnamese and Khmer services.