Spanningen lopen op aan vooravond Cambodjaanse verkiezingen

Thousands of government supporters rallied in Cambodia on Sunday against comments allegedly made by an opposition leader about atrocities during the "Killing Fields" era, as the United States denounced moves to expel opposition lawmakers from parliament.

Kem Sokha, acting president of the newly formed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was reported to have said that atrocities at the S-21 torture prison in Phnom Penh had been staged by Vietnam when its troops invaded Cambodia in 1978.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, in power since 1997, is close to Vietnam and China. He was himself a fighter for the ultra-maoist Khmer Rouge in power from 1975 to 1979, when an estimated 1.7 million people died but defected to Vietnam.