Ethnic community protests continue in Cambodia

Nearly 100 ethnic minority Khmer Krom monks and activists in Cambodia burned more Vietnamese flags Monday as their protest against a former Vietnamese diplomat entered its third day.

Outraged protesters trampled on Vietnamese flags before setting them on fire during a rally outside the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Pemh, which is fortified by riot police and metal barricades, Xinhua reported.

It was the fourth time the group has burned Vietnamese flags in a series of protests against Trung Van Thong, former spokesman for the Vietnamese embassy to Cambodia, who commented on a radio programme in June that South Vietnam, which was once part of former Kampuchea Krom provinces, belonged to Vietnam "long" before France's official transfer of the land in 1949.

Thach Sitha, a protest leader and president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association, said the rally, which is expected to last until Wednesday, was to demand an apology from the former spokesman and to urge him to accept the true history of the former Kampuchea Krom provinces.

"We will end our protests only if the Vietnamese government publicly recognises the true history of Kampuchea Krom, or makes an apology," he said, adding that burning flags was common in protests around the world.

--Indo-Asian News Servce

ksk/ab/dg