LICADHO staff in Phnom Penh was called to monitor demonstrators protesting the recent rise in gasoline prices in Cambodia. Despite the peaceful nature of the march, the municipal police detained seven demonstrators as they approached the Khan Chamcar Mon police station.

At 8:00 AM between twenty and thirty demonstrators riding on rented cyclos started the demonstration from the O’Russsey market, through the Sampov Mean pagoda to Monivong Blvd and the Faculty of Law building. Demonstrators were lead by Mr. Pang Sokhoeun of the Student Movement for Democracy. They represented members of his organization as well as the Intellectual Movement for Democracy, the Development Association for Peace, and the Transporter Association for Human Rights Development.

Police observed the demonstration from its starting point, and began stopping demonstrators as soon as they reached the Khan Chamcar Mon police station. The seven victims were detained, interviewed and released two hours later after providing their thumb prints and other information to the police.

The crack-down and arrest of demonstrators violates Article 37 and 41 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, which guarantees people the right to peaceful demonstration, and Article 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates people’s rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Mr. Pang Sokhoeun confirmed that he would write a complaint against the city governor for violating their right to freedom of assembly. Mr. Pang said that he had applied for permission to demonstrate from the city governor Kep Choutema, but the governor rejected his letter on television last night and in a statement to newspapers today.

LICADHO monitors criticized the police for obstructing the demonstrators’ freedoms of expression and assembly. The repeated refusal to allow demonstrations in Phnom Penh since January 2003 and the 1991 Law on Demonstration does not comply with the Constitution of Cambodia or international laws, and stifles the development of democracy in Cambodia.