In Cambodia, protests and arrests continue at NagaWorld casino

Demonstration by workers of the NagaWorld casino in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on January 4, 2022 to demand the reinstatement of colleagues made redundant last year.

AFP - TANG CHHIN SOTHY

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Cambodia, a conflict between former casino employees and NagaWorld, their former employer, continues to get bogged down. While demonstrators and union leaders have been targeted by arrests, several organizations denounce probable violations of fundamental freedoms.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Phnom Penh

,

Juliette Buchez

Last Tuesday, Chhim Sithar, president of the LSRU union, was violently arrested by a dozen plainclothes police as she tried to join the demonstrators. She was formally taken into custody on Wednesday for encouraging a demonstration deemed illegal by the authorities.

It is nevertheless in an apparent calm that hundreds of demonstrators have gathered almost every day since mid-December around the only casino in Phnom Penh. Surrounded by hundreds of police, they continue to assert their right to demonstrate. Despite the arrests, they are therefore continuing the mobilization by adding the release of union leaders to the list of their demands.

The 

dispute with NagaWorld

dates back to April 2021 when the establishment, which employs 8,000 people, announced the layoff of 1,329 employees, despite a net profit of $ 102 million in 2020. More than 300 employees have since opposed their dismissal , others dispute the amount of compensation.

They also denounce an attempt to silence the main union of employees.

All its leaders are affected by the layoffs. 

Unanimous condemnations

With the arrest of at least 29 demonstrators and the indictment of nine people for inciting to stir up public disorder, the convictions have multiplied.

They come from several embassies, local and international associations, but also independent UN experts.

For the latter, the “

 arrests (…) seem to constitute an escalation in the tactics (…) which have led to the unjustified imprisonment of

human rights defenders

” in Cambodia in recent years. 

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Cambodia

  • Unions

  • Employment and Work

  • Social issues

  • Human rights