Cambodia's ruling party celebrates 38th anniversary of victory over the Khmer Rouge regime

Record ID: 163393

  • Title: Cambodia's ruling party celebrates 38th anniversary of victory over the Khmer Rouge regime
  • Date: 7th January 2017
  • Summary: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (JANUARY 7, 2017) (REUTERS) PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN AND HIS PARTY HONORABLE LEADER HENG SAMRIN ARRIVING SUPPORTERS CLAPPING
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2017 05:44
  • Keywords: Cambodia Khmer Rouge anniversary celebration victory 38th Hun Sen Prime Minister
  • Location: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • City: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015Y2ZHAD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of Cambodian People's Party (CPP) supporters and survivors of the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" marked 38 years on Saturday (January 7) since the fall of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, which is blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
    About 10,000 people gathered at the ruling party headquarters to watch performances and listen to Prime Minister Hun Sen's speech.
    The celebration started with monks chanting, traditional Khmer dancers, drummers, and blessing of flowers in front of CPP senior officials.
    Hun Sen said the day should always be remembered with gratitude.
    "We are celebrating this historic victory anniversary by always remembering the countless number of combatants and compatriots who had joined with the December 2, 1979 of liberation front and solidarity of Cambodia and the Vietnamese army who stood up, fought resolutely, and sacrificed their lives heroically in the course of toppling the Pol Pot regime and defending the survival of Cambodia," he said.
    Supporters say they firmly support this party and think that this day is the second birth.
    "I am really proud of the Cambodian People's Party because they saved me and my family members from the killing regime," said Sorah Hyman, a long-time supporter.
    "Today is the most important day for all of us who could survive from a regime which the world have never met before and we think that it is the second birth for all of us," said Sok Kunthy, another supporter.
    After fleeing into the jungle along the Thai border, the remnants of Pol Pot's black-shirted guerrilla army resisted the Vietnamese and Hun Sen until their final surrender in 1998, the same year the movement's 'Brother Number One' died.
    Surviving leaders of the Khmer Rogue have been indicted by a United Nations-led tribunal handling cases related to the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians.
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