Two Group 78 residents look on as other residents dismantle their homes Thursday in advance of Friday’s eviction. Photo by: Christopher ShayBy Post staff
The Phnom Penh Post
Group 78 residents, rights groups accuse govt of deception, threats.
TWO days after Friday's eviction of the Group 78 community, former residents said they were struggling to rebuild their lives in their new homes, with many accusing the government of having conducted an intimidation campaign to force them from their valuable Bassac riverfront property.
"Our 12 family members are now living in a small rented room," said Sim Nhim, 60, adding that she had lived in Group 78 for more than 25 years. "We have no choice but to live here because [the government] demolished our homes."
She said she believed none of the residents had wanted to leave Group 78 but that the threat of an overwhelming police presence on eviction day "intimidated people into tearing down their own homes".
"We have empty hands, so we could not resist the authorities," she said.
Kheng Soroth, another former resident, said Sunday that City Hall had duped him into leaving his large house in Group 78 and that his family had been forced to take shelter in a squalid rental apartment.
"It is difficult for me to survive now because I have no money to buy a house," he said.
At dawn on Friday, police in riot gear marched into what remained of Group 78, a community that once held more than 80 families. A convoy of trucks carrying scores of demolition workers rolled in close behind them.
By Friday afternoon, the four holdout families had left, and workers in matching red T-shirts had finished dismantling Group 78, leaving only a few wooden poles poking out of the mud.
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