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Hundreds of Cambodian garment workers, trade union representatives and opposition party activists celebrated the 128th International Labor Day here Thursday morning amid tight security, defying a government ban on public gathering and marching.
Participants held banners and rallied on a street, just east of the capital's designated protest space, Freedom Park, to hear a speech from Sam Rainsy, president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), who spoke through a loud speaker from his pick-up truck.
The opposition leader urged the government to raise the monthly minimum wages of 160 U.S. dollars for garment workers and called for the release of 23 protesters still detained during violent clashes in January.
He also renewed a threat to call mass protests if the government does not free those detainees.
Heavy security forces have been deployed in the Freedom Park as razor wires and barricades have been placed around the park since Wednesday to prevent people from entering the site.
After Sam Rainsy ended his speech and left the on-street rally near the park, security forces began dispersing dozens of protesters and onlookers who remained on the street, Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator for the rights group Licadho, said.
"About 5 people were slightly injured on heads and bodies," he said.
According to Am Sam Ath, another group of approximately 500 workers had also gathered outside the National Assembly Palace, but there was no report of violence.
Rallies at public places in Phnom Penh were illegal since the City Hall on Wednesday issued a letter to ban rallies at the Freedom Park and other public places, National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito said.
"Security forces just implemented their duties to maintain public security and social order," he told Xinhua, adding that those workers and activists could mark the May Day at their offices, factories or private places.
On Thursday, the government organized a May Day celebration at the private-owned Diamond Island Center with the participation of some 2,000 pro-government workers and union activists.
Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An and Labor Minister Ith Samheng took part in the ceremony in which a Prime Minister Hun Sen's congratulatory message was read.
In the message, the premier said in the last decade, minimum wages for garment and footwear workers had been increased nine times from 40 U.S. dollars a month to the current 100 U.S. dollars and would be further increased in coming years.
He also warned that recent demonstrations and riots, which had been caused by the opposition party and its aligned trade unions, could create chaos in the job market and cause social disorder and instability while discouraging investors.
"These issues will hinder the process of industrialization, national economic development and poverty reduction efforts," he said, calling on workers to avoid staging illegal strikes that could affect their own benefits and disrupt public order.
The garment and footwear industry, the country's largest foreign exchange earner, comprises 960 factories with around 630, 000 workers, the premier said. The sector earned 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenues last year.
