By Kate Bartlett
PHNOM PENH
Riot police used batons to beat back supporters of the owner of one of Cambodia’s only independent radio stations on Monday as they attempted to march on Cambodia's Information Ministry to demand a TV license.
Clashes broke out as more than 70 riot police kept Mam Sonando - a strong critic of long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen - and hundreds of his supporters contained in a central Phnomh Penh park.
The protesters - two of whom were reportedly injured - defied a ban on public demonstrations to demand a relay station and television license for Sonando, who is trying to open Cambodia's first opposition television channel in a country in which nearly all newspapers and television toe the government line.
“We know freedom will prevail... We can do this [protest] every day,” Sonando, 72, told the crowd, flashing his trademark peace sign.
Security forces also cracked down on a similar peaceful protest in January by Sonando and his advocates.
Sonando’s Beehive Radio—which regularly broadcasts shows critical of land evictions and deforestation by corporations and government cronies—is one of the few independent media outlets in the country.
The protesters—men and women of all ages walking alongside Buddhist monks—held signs reading: “We demand for the TV frequency” and “We demand for the relay of Beehive Radio FM.”
The Ministry of Information has repeatedly said there are no available frequencies for Sonando, but licenses have at the same time been reportedly given to pro-government broadcasters.
“I got information that a TV station was recently granted to a tycoon, but for Mam Sonando...there is no frequency,” Nay Vanda, of local NGO Adhoc, told the Anadolu Agency. “This is political discrimination.”
Sonando had requested permission to march to the Information Ministry but had been denied it by the government, which last year banned public gatherings of over 10 people.
That ban came in the wake of July's disputed national elections, which the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party claims were rigged in favor of Hun Sen.
Since the vote, mass protests have been common, with police opening fire on demonstrators on several occasions, killing several.
By Kate Bartlett
englishnews@aa.com.tr
