Cambodia: Monk Tries To Set Himself On Fire

SKY NEWS

A monk has been filmed apparently trying to set himself on fire in protest at alleged election fraud in Cambodia.

Around 20,000 opposition supporters had gathered in Freedom Park in the capital Phnom Penh to call for an independent investigation into Prime Minister Hun Sen's election victory when the incident took place.

Venerable Sok Dyna, 35, told the crowd: "The world is blind to seeing the death of Khmer people through cruel actions that Hun Sen’s partisans undertook - even in this age of Facebook.

"Why won’t they help Khmer? If the world will not believe that Hun Sen’s partisans killed people, I come here to show them. I would like to burn my body here as evidence."

He then pulled a bottle of petrol from his robes and unscrewed the lid before he was wrestled to the back of the stage by security guards and escorted from the park.

Cambodia has been in political deadlock since the election on July 28, which opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party claims was rigged.

The CNRP are demanding an independent probe into poll irregularities which they say cost them victory, and are threatening to boycott the opening of the National Assembly on September 23.

Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which won 68 assembly seats in the vote, says that with the results already ratified, there is no legal way to challenge the election process.

The opposition won 55 seats, a significant increase from the 29 seats they held in the last government.

Tens of thousands have held protests in Cambodia, most recently with the three-day rally that began on Sunday in Freedom Park.

But the mass demonstration was marred by clashes on Sunday night that left one dead and at least 24 people injured, according to Human Rights Watch.