PHNOM PENH, December 20, 2011 (Cambodia Herald) - Human rights activists and community representatives from across Cambodia gathered at the National Assembly Tuesday in a bid to block a controversial draft NGO law, saying it will suppress freedom of expression.Wearing black shirts and scarves, about 200 protestors carried a 237-metre banner with a petition by 6,167 people, shouting through loudspeakers for National Assembly President Heng Samrin not to approve the new law.
Heng Sam Orn, a representative of the protesters, said communities from 24 provinces and municipalities could not accept the latest draft.
The petition was accepted by 10 opposition lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party, who had earlier walked out of the National Assembly after it voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of a fellow opposition lawmaker charged with organizing a jailbreak.
Civil society groups discussed the draft law at a meeting at the Ministry of Interior on Monday without reaching agreement.
A source close to those drafting the law said last week it was still with the Ministry of Interior and had not yet been sent to the Council of Ministers, which is responsible for forwarding government legislation to the National Assembly.
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