A young woman remains in hospital with serious burns to her arm after her sister set fire to a car tyre in a desperate bid to avoid eviction in Phnom Penh on Friday.

The burning protest was sparked when police attempted to evict the Soeng family from their Daun Penh district home, in accordance with a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.

Daun Penh District Governor Kuoch Chamroeun said Soeng Rattana, 23, was badly burned when her sister, Soeng Soner, set fire to a car tyre, which then ignited a gas canister and set the home alight.

Soner and a third sister, Soeng Samnang, have been arrested in relation to the blaze and charged with obstructing public officials, Chamroeun said.

“The house and land were declared by the court to belong to the case winner,” the governor added.

The court’s final verdict in 2007 confiscated the Soeng family’s plot of land and house, awarding the property to Sem Lorng.

Soeng Rattana, speaking from Calmette Hospital, claimed the verdict was “unfair” for her family, which is poor, while the victorious side is a wealthy family.