Political Foes Battle in Streets of Cambodia

Rival political supporters battled with clubs and guns Saturday in the sixth straight day of street protests against strongman Hun Sen, who brought thousands of armed men into the capital to crush calls for his ouster.

Hun Sen assembled about 5,000 loyalists from the Phnom Penh region, bringing them into the capital in convoys of trucks. They were joined by truckloads of soldiers.

“We want to see all demonstrations stopped,” said Prak Sokhan, 43, a club-wielding Hun Sen supporter.

In the only street battle where the two sides confronted each other in equal numbers, about 100 opposition supporters threw stones at Hun Sen’s men and chased the group with clubs dropped in their panicky retreat. Guns apparently were fired wildly by Hun Sen’s men.

At least three people were seriously hurt: two Hun Sen backers and a bystander. One of them was shot twice in the leg; it was unclear whether the others had been shot or clubbed.

Concerned about the escalating violence, the opposition called off a rally planned for today.

Four people have been killed in daily clashes on the capital’s streets since Monday, when a grenade attack against Hun Sen’s home prompted police to crack down on relatively peaceful election protests. The opposition maintains Hun Sen won the July election through voter fraud.

Hun Sen blamed Sam Rainsy, his most vocal critic, for the grenade attack, which caused no injuries, and called for his arrest.

Rainsy has sought refuge in the local U.N. offices.

The violence--the worst since Hun Sen deposed co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody coup last year--has undermined the legitimacy Hun Sen was seeking.