PHNOM PENH // At least four people were killed on Friday when police in Cambodia opened fire to break up a protest by striking garment workers demanding a doubling of the minimum wage.
The four were killed and 20 others were wounded in a southern suburb of the capital when police fired AK-47 rifles after several hundred workers blocking a road south of Phnom Penh began burning tires and throwing objects at them, said Chuon Narin, the deputy Phnom Penh police chief.
Chuon Narin said the protesters were anarchists who were destroying public and private property. They were cleared from the street, at least temporarily, by early afternoon.
Chan Saveth, an observer from the human rights group Adhoc, said his group had tallied three dead and 10 hurt, seven apparently with gunshot wounds.
The violence comes at a time of political stress in the country, as the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has protested daily for the prime minister, Hun Sen, to step down and call elections.
Hun Sen won elections last July that extended his 28-year rule, but opposition protesters accuse him of rigging the vote. Hun Sen has rejected their demand.
Workers at most of the country’s more than 500 garment factories are on strike, demanding an increase in the minimum wage to US$160 (Dh590) a month. The government has offered $100 a month.
Although the wage and election issues are not directly linked, the opposition has close ties with the country’s labour movement.
The workers represent a potent political force, because the garment industry is Cambodia’s biggest export earner, employing about 500,000 people in garment and shoe factories. In 2012, the country shipped more US$4 billion worth of products to the United States and Europe.
* Associated Press
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1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
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