Four villagers were injured yesterday when security forces open-fired at a group of 200 protesters who had gathered to block bulldozers from clearing their land in the Kraite province, one of four provinces that make up the greater Prey Lang forest in Cambodia. Our campaign partners LICADHO said that the shooting took place when villagers attempted to stop security guards at a rubber plantation owned by TTY Corporation from destroying the communities’ cassava fields. According to witnesses, the security guards opened fire on the villagers using AK-47s. VOA Khmer
The Prey Lang Network is our grassroots partner in the campaign to save Prey Lang forest. They are an association of Indigenous and non Indigenous activists who have joined together to protect their forest. See their season's greetings, below:
Two community activists who have been outspoken against the illegal logging and land concessions within the Prey Lang forest in Cambodia are being targeted by local police. Roeun Sopheap and Sim Sean have reported patrols of police waiting outside their homes and have been living in hiding throughout the past month. Both activists are facing accusations of incitement and destruction of property filed by police after last month’s march through the Prey Lang forest. Local organizations believe that the police patrolling their homes also stand to benefit from the destruction of the forest.
This short documentary about threats to the Prey Lang forest and the Kuy community’s efforts to protect it was produced by Cambodian student Kim Samath as part of the Southeast Asian Student Documentary Award Competition. To make her film, "Prey Lang - Fire of Light, Light of Hope," she traveled to the Prey Lang Forest to investigate how people live within Cambodia’s largest forest, which is under constant threat of deforestation.
Over 250 activists were confronted byPolice at Prey Lang prayer ceremony police during a Buddhist prayer ceremony for the protection of Prey Lang forest in Cambodia. Held at the Angkor Wat complex on December 14th, the event was organized by the Prey Lang Network to call attention to the destruction occurring within the Prey Lang forest, an area that is currently under threat from 33 separate economic land concessions that have been granted by the Cambodian government to private companies.
Forest activists in the Prey Lang Network are gathering today in Cambodia’s famed Angkor complex to pray for Cambodia and its future. Cambodia has lost its forests at an alarming rate. Now Prey Lang, the last large lowland evergreen forest, is at risk.
This Al Jazeera news clip shows protesters at the end of their one-week march through the Prey Lang forest. Police broke up their protest against the illegal logging and rubber plantations that are destroying the forest and their livelihoods.
