In a letter dated Sep 17 to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Hun Manet said Thai forces had “widened the conflict zone by erecting barbed wire and barricades”, and “forcibly” evicted Cambodian civilians from their “long-settled lands” in two border villages in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province since last month.
“Twenty-five families have already been blocked from their homes and fields,” Hun Manet wrote, adding that a Thai military spokesperson had threatened more evictions, “potentially affecting hundreds of households comprised of about a thousand inhabitants”.
Thai army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said in a statement on Thursday that the Cambodian civilians involved in the violent incident the day before had “deliberately and illegally occupied Thai territory for an extended period”.
Winthai also accused Cambodian military personnel of failing to intervene on Wednesday as Cambodian villagers “carried long wooden sticks as makeshift weapons, showing intent to harm Thai officials and breach Thai barriers”.
Video released by the Thai military late Wednesday showed Thai security forces firing tear gas at several Cambodians, some of who flung long sticks towards Thai authorities and tried to remove barbed wire.
