Vendors on Sihanoukville’s Occheuteal beach got a last-minute reprieve yesterday as their scheduled eviction was postponed for the second time in less than a week.

Sihanoukville City Governor Y Sokleng, who only Monday evening had re-confirmed the eviction would go ahead as scheduled, said yesterday that he was woken up at 5am by a phone call from Preah Sihanouk Provincial Governor Yum Min notifying him of the postponement.

Min said he was delaying the evictions until he had returned from a trip outside the province. He was unable to say when he would return, but suggested there may be still more discussions of the beach vendors’ fates when that happens. “I do not know yet, but there will be fresh discussions about it when I come back,” Min said.