Cambodian Vigilante Justice on the Rise?

Stealing a motorcycle could cost you your life

Two men fell to the ground after striking a pothole in Phnon Penh's Por Sen Chey district. Immediately upon hitting the turf one of the men was savagely kicked and beaten into unconsciousness by villagers. The other man fled.

Minutes earlier the two young, unemployed men, had stolen a motorcycle from one of the locals. The victims cries for help were answered by many and when the thieves were thrown to the road harsh vigilante justice was meted out.

The incident follows the recent mob beating and killing of a man who stole an old lady's gold necklace and the pack- killing of two gold robbers.

Such mob violence has declined in Cambodia over the last decade but these latest attacks raise the concern of whether these latest episodes of violence signal an upsurge again in vigilante justice.

It's not hard to see why Cambodians sometimes take the law into their own hands.

 It's not right, it's certainly not Buddhist behaviour, but if the police are largely useless or have their grubby paws out for a payment from the victim before they assist, how else is justice done and seen to be done?