Tens of thousands of supporters of a Cambodian union leader gunned down last week marched through the capital's center yesterday, carrying wreaths and wearing black and white headbands to bid farewell to their "hero worker."
Chea Vichea, president of Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers and a supporter of the country's main opposition party, was fatally shot Thursday morning at a roadside newsstand.
He became the latest victim of a series of suspected political killings involving critics of the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
PHOTO: AP
With police lining the streets, Chea Vichea's body was moved early Sunday from the union's office to a cremation site near Cambodia's National Assembly and the Royal Palace.
Several people carried wreaths adorned with white and yellow flowers, some with Chea Vichea's picture inside, and most wore white shirts with cloth or paper headbands reading "Chea Vichea, the hero worker" and "Chea Vichea, the founder of workers' freedom."
Rong Chhun, leader of a teachers' union, said Chea Vichea "undoubtedly commanded respect among his peer groups."
"While we are mourning his death, let's remember to honor and be proud of his life achievements," he said in prepared remarks to be read at the cremation site.
"The government must end the culture of impunity and the killing anarchy in Cambodia," Men Nath, a representative of the Cambodian Watchdog Council, said in a statement to be read at the cremation.
The procession, which included teary-eyed young women and dozens of monks wearing burgundy or orange robes, attracted many onlookers.
Lak Sina, 58, watched the procession file by as she stood near the corner where Chea Vichea was slain.
"I never knew this person but I heard that he's a good man who fought for the freedom of the workers. I pity him very much," she said.
The recent string of killings of people linked to the political opposition following inconclusive general elections in July has created an atmosphere of fear, human rights advocates said. Several opposition legislators joined the procession.
King Norodom Sihanouk, who said Friday that the murders were multiplying and they were "undeniably" linked to politics, gave Chea Vichea a posthumous royal order, recognizing some of his achievements.
A founding member of the opposition Sam Rainsy party, Chea Vichea left the group to found the union several years ago but maintained close links with the party, which stridently criticizes the Hun Sen government.
Police have not arrested any suspects in the slaying, but are looking for a man who allegedly sent Chea Vichea a death threat in a message to the labor leader's cell phone before July's general elections, said Heng Pov, a deputy police commissioner.
A number of activists with the FUNCINPEC and Sam Rainsy parties were killed in what the parties allege were politically motivated attacks before and after the inconclusive ballot.
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights said in a report that arrests were made in about half the cases over a yearlong period ending last November, but that they were concerned some suspects were not the real killers.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate