Election Protest

Having had a very long with the students from Japan I got only a few restless hours of sleep before waking up early to attend the election protest rally at Wat Phnom (the center of Phnom Penh). As I cycled down Russian Blvd I noticed that as I neared the street named Monivong there began to be a strong military and police presence. As soon as I crossed Monivong the noise level jumped and huge crowds could be seen. The roads were jam packed and I was on my bike. I braked as a group of teenagers slowly began jaywalking in front of me, but a tuk tuk that was behind me and to my left misjudged his width and the distance that separated us. Although using my brakes I could not stop and I just got pushed from behind by the tuk tuk and into the group of jaywalkers. Thankfully they were able to avert getting hit; although I was only going at a snail’s pace anyway. At Wat Phnom there many people gathering on both sides of the street and in front of businesses. I parked my bike and began to walk. Although it was still before 8:00 it was already a scorching hot day.

As I walked towards the front of the gathering the crowd got much thicker, louder, and more energetic. A stage had been constructed on the North end of the park and there were many people on it including a few monks. The ages of people at the protest spanned the spectrum from teenagers to very elderly with most of the elderly in the back (south end). To the side of the park there was a continuous line of parked motos and across the street tuk tuks - some of them with political signs posted on the side. It seems that one major theme if the signs saw is "my vote, my life".

 

The crowd was mostly seated and yet very energetic. Before today there were many people who were very concerned about the danger factor for this protest. They recommended that people (especially expats) just stay home and/or avoid the Wat Phnom area. But the demonstration was very peaceful and military presence was barely noticeable at the protest. There were a lot of police present, but they were also calm and just helpful to make sure that traffic kept moving and that people were able to safely cross streets. 

 

 

On my way home I was able to take a picture of an empty military flatbed truck - the kind that I mentioned in an earlier post that transports dozens of soldiers wearing helmets and facemasks, and holding rifles. As I took this picture and officer came running up to me and ordered me to get moving away.