Armed Forces Deployed Across Cambodia
Published on 7 November 2019
Soldiers, military police and police have mobilised across Cambodia this week ahead of the planned return of former leaders of the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party. In many provinces this has included public processions of armed security forces down main thoroughfares, sometimes with children lining the streets to observe the armed forces, as organised by their public schools. Government-aligned media and official Facebook pages have shared videos of armed forces alongside machine gun turrets, grenade launchers, artillery, assault rifles and sniper rifles. LICADHO has confirmed that convoys of security forces have traveled through public streets in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Thom, Koh Kong, and Svay Rieng provinces.
This deployment of armed forces takes place amid an unprecedented wave of arrests of former opposition members, with at least 50 people arrested since August 2019.
