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Thai citizens were prevented from protesting Friday at disputed villages along Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey border, areas that have been a focal point of tension since a five-day border conflict earlier this year and a subsequent peace agreement signed last week in Malaysia.
Dozens of Thais in Sa Kaeo province, which borders Banteay Meanchey, were stopped by Thai soldiers as they attempted to march to the disputed villages of Prey Chan and Chouk Chey, local media reported. The villages which Thailand calls Nong Ya Kaeo and Ban Nong Chan have been home to Cambodian residents for decades but are claimed by Bangkok as Thai territory.
Banteay Meanchey provincial police chief Sith Lous said a group of Thais had attempted to protest in the villages but were stopped by Thai soldiers and local authorities who prevented them from entering an area where razor wire had been set up.
“They have returned to their [Thai] police station,” he said. “I don’t have information on how many people there were because we couldn’t see them.”
Chouk Chey and nearby Prey Chan have been flashpoints since a ceasefire ended a five-day border conflict in July between the neighbors that killed dozens and temporarily displaced hundreds of thousands. Thai forces have since erected barricades in long-settled Cambodian villages and ordered residents to vacate homes they have been barred from entering for months.
The move sparked clashes between Cambodian residents and Thai forces in September, leaving several people injured.
A resident of Prey Chan village, Hul Malis, said she was aware, without clarifying how, that some Thai people were planning to enter the village.
“We were waiting for them, but haven’t seen them,” she said, declining to comment further.
Banteay Meanchey provincial spokesperson Ly Sovannarith could not be reached for comment.
The nationalistic intensity comes after Cambodia and Thailand signed an expanded ceasefire agreement, referred to as a peace agreement by Phnom Penh and by U.S. President Donald Trump, who helped broker the deal, during the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur last week.
Regional border committees from both nations also agreed shortly before the summit to begin surveys and replace boundary pillars along the Sa Kaeo–Banteay Meanchey border.
One of the stipulations set during the expanded agreement signing in Malaysia was that Thailand release 18 captured Cambodian soldiers, which it has yet to do as of Friday.
Despite U.S. expectations that the release be immediate, the Thai military maintains that Cambodia must first fulfill key conditions, including clearing landmines along the border and combating transnational crime syndicates.
