Blackwell Reference Online

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Early on the morning of April 26 1965, a flash telegram arrived at the state department from the American embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Several hundred demonstrators were converging on the embassy, the crowd was growing steadily, and “rocks have begun to fly.” All local employees were sent home, embassy automobiles removed from the vicinity, and American dependents sent to the Hotel Royal. In another hour most of the windows had been broken and the embassy's American flag burned. A few placards were seen calling on the United States to go home. The police, who had arrived late, made only perfunctory efforts to control the demonstrators and instead were reportedly “standing around watching the festivities.” For another hour “rocks of assorted sizes” barraged the embassy, and then police in riot gear moved in and began to push back the crowd, which by then amounted to several thousand people. Chargé d'affaires ad interim Alf” Bergesen characterized the participants as predominantly “riffraff.” Cyclo (bicycle rickshaw) drivers were reputedly the chief rock throwers. By the end of the demonstration, the building was a mess “with rocks, tomatoes and broken glass in every room.” Graffiti covered the exterior walls. But the crowd did not penetrate the embassy itself, and damage to the building was a relatively modest $4,878.06. This chapter is a substantially revised version of “The ... log in or subscribe to read full text