Some 100 monks from the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ) plan to hold an eight-hour “hunger strike” in front of the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh on Saturday to demand a halt to a planned dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley and an end to China’s oppression of ethnic minorities.

The venerable Ly Channen, IMNSJ representative, said the monks are not only concerned about the Stung Cheay Areng dam, which is to be built by a state-owned Chinese hydropower company, but also with Chinese abuses against Tibetan monks and the execution of members of the Muslim minority Uighur population.

“We are all human beings in this world. We cannot let the communist [Chinese] government commit genocide against the Cambodian and Uighur races and other human rights abuses. We have to condemn the Chinese government,” said Channen.

The hunger strike will last from 9am to 5pm.

The Chinese Embassy’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment.