Authorities pushed women protesters to the ground and confiscated banners from a group of around 20 demonstrators who gathered in front of the French Embassy this morning. Police and para-police outnumbered demonstrators and used excessive force to disrupt the protesters from holding banners and speaking to the media.

The group of women protesters, often called the “Friday Women”, have for months gathered in front of various embassies and state institutions to call for the release of their imprisoned family members, who are former members or officials in the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved by Cambodian courts in November 2017. They have previously been harassed and pushed by security forces during peaceful demonstrations. Three of the demonstrators entered the French Embassy to deliver their petition, including Prum Chantha, the mother of a detained 16-year-old with autism spectrum disorder. Her son was arrested in June 2021 for incitement and insult of public officials, while her husband Kak Komphear, a former CNRP official, has been in jail since June 2020 on charges of conspiracy and incitement. The other petitioners were Seng Chan Thon, whose husband Sun Thun was a former CNRP activist, high school teacher and local union leader and was arrested in June 2020; and Out Chanthy, whose husband Yoem Sareth was a former elected commune councilor in Phnom Penh for the CNRP and was arrested in March 2020.

More than 50 political activists and former members of the opposition are currently imprisoned, while more than a hundred have been slapped with politically motivated charges in recent years.