ABOUT 100 villagers in Kratie province’s Sambor district embroiled in a land dispute with a local company yesterday continued a roughly 200-strong protest held over the weekend to demand that company representatives stop clearing their farmland.

Ke Khy, 55, a representative of residents in Yeav village in Kampong Cham commune, said yesterday that villagers from about 30 families living on roughly 110 hectares of land began protesting on Friday.

“We just want to protect our land, so [the company] has to stop to clearing our land and find a resolution [for us],” he said.

Chhun Hong Rubber Better Company was granted a 70-year economic land concession from the government in 2008 on 8,202 hectares of land in Kampong Cham commune in order to develop rubber plantations.

Company director Ty Piseth could not be reached for comment yesterday.

District governor Seng Sotha said that he had requested the company stop clearing land in order to seek a resolution to the dispute, which he would ask his officials to investigate.