Police in Svay Rieng province yesterday afternoon arrested a union worker who was delivering flyers supporting a stay-at-home strike scheduled to begin after Khmer New Year.

While delivering about 1,100 fliers to union members at Full Fortune Knitting, Kem Chamroeun, a 25-year-old Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) employee, called union president Pav Sina to say that police were following him, Sina said yesterday.

“Kem Chamroeun brought the leaflets about the stay-at-home strike to our units at Full Fortune so they could distribute them to workers tomorrow,” Sina said. “But the authorities stopped and arrested him, taking his phone and leaflets.”

Sina reported the arrest to the UN and to rights groups Licadho and Adhoc, he said.

Deputy provincial police chiefs Nup Kimheng, Hem Saban and Nim Thourn all said they were unaware of the arrest. Svay Rieng Provincial Governor Cheang Am could not be reached for comment.