Back To Heat, Thai Police Fire Rubber Bullets When Clashes With Cambodians

UNSPLASH/Tse ILLUSTRATION Kai Wong

JAKARTA - Thai police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Cambodian civilians in the disputed border area on Wednesday.

This is the most significant escalation since they announced a ceasefire to end the five-day deadly conflict in July.

23 Cambodians were reportedly injured in the incident, according to Cambodian authorities. Thailand's military said an undisclosed number of Thai officials were also injured.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, September 17, clashes took place in disputed border settlements, which Thailand says is part of Ban Nong Ya Kaew village in Sa Kaeo province, but according to Cambodia is part of Prey Chan's village in Bantheon Meanchey province.

Last month, Thai authorities installed barbed wire fences in the area, and for weeks there have been protests by civilians from both sides of the border.

Thailand and Cambodia have more than a century debated sovereignty at various unconstrained points along their 817 km (508 miles) land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was still its colony.

Tensions over the disputed territory escalated to a border conflict in July, as the fiercest fighting between the two neighboring countries in decades killed 48 people and left hundreds of thousands of people temporarily displaced.

The fighting ended after the two countries agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Malaysia on July 28, and the border has remained largely calm since then.

On Wednesday, Cambodia's Minister of Information, Neth Pheaktra, accused Thai officials of violating border borders, and said they were using " tear gas, rubber bullets, and tools that caused noisy noise against Cambodian civilians."

The use of force by Thailand was a response to provocations from some 200 Cambodian protesters, some of whom threw sticks and stones and fired catapults at Thai officials, which caused injuries, Thailand's military said in a statement.