Cambodian police have fired shots to disperse hundreds of protesting garment factory workers in Phnom Penh just days ahead of an Asian security summit in the city.
At least one worker was killed. After the shooting stopped, the young workers gathered in sidestreets in an uneasy standoff with hundreds of police.
The workers then surged forward, many screaming, to remonstrate with police as an ambulance took the body away. Police fired a warning shot to keep them back.
"We just wanted to complain against the manager because he refused to negotiate with us," one female worker told journalists today.
Human rights groups have accused some of the factories of exploitation of workers but the International Labour Organisation last year reported "encouraging signs of improvement" in conditions.
Cambodia's 220 garment factories produced about $1.1 billion in exports, about 77 per cent of the country's total, in 2001, of which $820 million went to the United States, according to the Cambodian Development Resource Institute.
Security in the country has been tightened in the run-up to general elections on July 27th and the arrival of foreign ministers from more than 20 countries, including the United States, at an Asia-Pacific security summit next week.
Historically, elections in Cambodia are preceded by civil unrest. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has built up a strong political following among the impoverished country's 200,000 mostly female garment workers.