The first day of the mass protest from October 23-25 held by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in Phnom Penh took place without any violence.

CNRP’s President Sam Rainsy on October 23 led thousands of protestors to march from the Freedom Park to the United Nations Human Rights office in Cambodia to submit a petition which contains 2 million signatures and fingerprints to ask the UN and the signatories of the Paris Peace Agreement for Cambodia to intervene for justice for those who voted for the CNRP.

According to the CNRP statement, the three-day mass protest is held to demand a review of the fifth legislature election in July.

Along with the petition, the CNRP also sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, saying that Cambodia’s general election on July 28 had serious irregularities. The CNRP President called on the UN to intervene in present political deadlocks in the country to ensure the validity of the agreement and a stable development for Cambodia.

On October 24 and 25 the protestors plan continue to march to foreign embassies, including those of the US, France, Russia and the UK, to hand over the petition.

Cambodian Interior Ministry allowed the CNRP to stage the demonstration from October 23 at the park during daytime only, and groups of up to 1,000 protestors to march to the UN office and foreign embassies to deliver the petition. However, about 30,000 protestors followed the groups.

The official results of the July election showed that the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen won victory, but the opposition CNRP refused to accept the results, claiming serious irregularities during the poll.-VNA