Authorities rounded up 23 more sex workers last night in the capital’s Daun Penh district, police officials said yesterday, marking the second night in a row such crackdowns occurred.

Daun Penh police chief Hoat Chan Yaran said the police found the sex workers, 22 women and one man, near Wat Phnom.

“They stood in a quiet place around Wat Phnom to find customers,” he said. “It’s not good – they know that authorities will round them up, but they come and stand here anyway.”

Yaran added that the sex workers were sent to the capital’s social affairs office before being sent to the city’s notorious Prey Speu detention centre for “re-education”.

On Monday night, authorities arrested 43 sex workers around Wat Phnom, an operation that also saw 10 homeless persons rounded up. All were sent to Prey Speu.

The centre, formally known as Por Sen Chey Vocational Training Centre, has long been alleged by rights groups and detainees to be abusive and ill-equipped to offer any sort of rehabilitation for those sent there.