Security guards from Derm Kor market in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district destroyed produce from nearly 100 vegetable vendors yesterday morning after ordering sellers to vacate the premises for parking.

The security guards dropped the produce on the ground, even running over some of it with their cars, said 28-year-old vendor Meas Sampos.

According to Sampos, vendors were previously allowed to sell vegetables at night and left every morning at 8am to make space for buses and bikes.

“I pay over $1 every day to the market’s security to have the right to sell here,” Sampos said, adding that market security broke their contract with the vendors.

Vorn Pov, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association, said the market must find a new space for the vendors, or they may demonstrate.

Bun Thoeun, chief of security, said the action was part of a plan to “impose order around the market”.