Boeung Kak Lake

REPRESENTATIVES of about 200 residents of the Boeung Kak Lake area plan to submit a letter to City Hall today requesting permission to stage a 10-day protest at the newly established demonstration zone in Phnom Penh.

Ly Mom, a representative from Srah Chak commune’s Village 24, said residents hoped the planned protest would draw attention to an ongoing dispute with development company Shukaku Inc.

“We want to ask the leader of the government to give us the land titles and stop Shukaku Inc pumping sand to submerge our homes,” she said. “We expect that [Phnom Penh] governor Keb Chuktema will give us permission.”

She added, however, that residents planned to stage the protest – set to begin on December 10, which is International Human Rights Day – regardless of whether or not they received permission from City Hall.

Keb Chuktema and other City Hall officials said they were too busy to comment yesterday.

The capital’s demonstration zone opened in November.