Authorities Block Environmental Activists’ Cycling Campaign
Published on 4 June 2020
A group of young environmental activists who were harassed by authorities for more than a day have been released from police questioning this afternoon. The activists were stopped by police while cycling from Koh Kong province to Phnom Penh as part of their “Save Koh Kong Krao Island” campaign in a clear attempt to intimidate the young Cambodians.
The group, which included members of environmental movement Mother Nature, were repeatedly accused by local authorities of being part of the dissolved opposition party. Police are refusing to return the activists’ bicycles until after World Environment Day on June 5, effectively cutting short their peaceful campaign to the nation’s capital.
Provincial police seized the young Cambodians’ bicycles yesterday to prevent the group from cycling to Phnom Penh to submit a petition calling for Cambodia’s largest island to be designated as a protected national park. When the group tried to continue to the capital on foot, they were stopped in the middle of the night by government officials, who pressured them to stop their journey and hand over their petition directly.
After refusing, the activists returned to the Koh Kong District Police Inspector station this morning to ask for the return of their bicycles. Instead, they were interrogated for hours by the police. Authorities repeatedly demanded to know who was behind the group, why they had used the word “save” in their campaign and where their funding came from.
The police then confiscated more than a dozen t-shirts bearing the “Save Koh Kong Krao Island” logo, on the grounds that the word “save” was too similar to the name of the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party. The activists are expected to continue on to Phnom Penh by car to try to submit their petition.
The “Save Koh Kong Krao Island” campaign was launched in July last year to call on the Ministry of Environment to designate the island as a national park. Environmental activists have warned that failure to protect the island could lead to environmental destruction if its natural resources are sold into private hands.
