Around 12 youth and environmental activists and a foreign national were taken into custody and questioned for several hours by local Phnom Penh and immigration authorities after peacefully advocating for the preservation of a coastal island in Koh Kong province.

The activists were exercising, holding banners and taking photographs on Phnom Penh riverside this morning while being monitored by non-uniformed security personnel. As they were leaving the area, Daun Penh district security guards forced them onto a truck and took them to the district office for questioning.

The authorities took them in because they were holding banners reading, “Sunday for Koh Kong Island”. All 13 people were held and questioned all afternoon before being released around 6 pm.

Youth and environmental activists have consistently advocated for the Cambodian government to protect the Koh Kong Krao island off the coast of Koh Kong province. The island is slated for development, including a special economic zone developed by ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat.

Environmental activists were harassed, held for one day and blocked from cycling from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh in 2020 as part of their campaign to “Save Koh Kong Krao.”