Thai forces fire rubber bullets, tear gas in clash with Cambodian villagers

Cambodian authorities accidental astatine slightest 29 civilians person been injured successful the brushwood with Thai troops astatine a contested borderline site.

Dozens of Cambodian civilians were injured erstwhile Thailand’s subject utilized teardrop state and rubber bullets during clashes successful a disputed country connected the Thai-Cambodia border, the astir important unit since some countries halted cross-border warring successful July.

Local media successful Cambodia reported that 29 people, including section villagers and Buddhist monks, were wounded successful the confrontation with Thai forces connected Wednesday afternoon, portion Thailand’s subject said a fig of its officials were besides injured.

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The unit marks the astir aggravated confrontation successful months since a ceasefire agreed successful precocious July brought an extremity to warring betwixt the Southeast Asian neighbours that saw artillery, rocket occurrence and aerial strikes termination astatine slightest 48 radical successful some countries and displace hundreds of thousands who fled their homes for safety.

“Cambodia urges Thailand to debar actions that could escalate tensions oregon grow disputes,” Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence said successful a connection published successful section media connected Thursday, arsenic it condemned Thailand’s subject for actions that violated Cambodian “sovereignty and planetary law”.

The Reuters quality bureau reports that the unit erupted successful the vicinity of a contested frontier settlement, which Thailand claims is portion of Ban Nong Ya Kaew colony successful Sa Kaeo province, and which Cambodia claims arsenic portion of Prey Chan colony successful Banteay Meanchey province.

Thai Border Patrol Police (BPP) look Cambodian radical successful a disputed country on the Cambodia-Thailand borderline connected Wednesday [Royal Thai Army/AFP]

Thailand’s subject said that it responded astatine 3:40pm section clip [08:40 GMT] to the accomplishment of immoderate 200 Cambodian protesters who began demonstrating against the installation of “barricades and concertina ligament to heighten information on the Thai-Cambodia Border”.

Within 30 minutes of deploying to the flashpoint country wherever protesters from some countries person gathered implicit caller weeks, Thai forces fired rubber bullets and utilized teardrop state “to power the situation”, accusing the Cambodian demonstrators of being equipped with woody sticks, stones and slingshots.

Long-range acoustic devices, which usage high-powered dependable arsenic a method of assemblage control, were besides utilized by Thai forces against the Cambodian demonstrators, who were forced to retreat from the area, the subject said.

“Ultimately, assemblage power constabulary were deployed to de-escalate the concern successful compliance with planetary norms, utilizing teardrop state and rubber bullets to forestall the unrest from spiralling into a full-blown riot,” Thai subject spokesperson Winthai Suvari said successful a statement.

Cambodian authorities person responded to the wounded of their civilians with a flurry of statements, including the overseas ministry accusing Thai soldiers of entering Cambodian territory and attacking residents who were peacefully defending their homes.

The Thai military’s “repeated provocations … not lone endanger the fragile ceasefire on the borderline but besides earnestly undermine ongoing efforts by some governments to resoluteness disputes done peaceful dialog and negotiation,” the ministry said.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres successful a missive accusing Thai forces of “widening the struggle portion by erecting barbed ligament and barricades, issuing ultimatums, and forcibly evicting Cambodian civilians from long-settled land”.

The Cambodian government’s quality rights committee called for the planetary assemblage to “intervene and impulse Thailand to respect determination and planetary law”.

Thailand and Cambodia person a agelong past of borderline disputes, with the sovereignty of galore undemarcated points on their 817km (508 miles) onshore borderline inactive contested.