PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters marched through the capital Wednesday to deliver a petition to the United Nations urging it to intervene in what they say was a rigged election that illegitimately returned Prime Minister Hun Sen to power.
The march kicked off a three-day rally marking the opposition's latest push to demand an independent probe into alleged cheating in the July 28 election.
Hundreds of bystanders lined the 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) route, cheering "Change!" as the protesters walked past waving Cambodian flags. The march snarled traffic along one of Phnom Penh's major boulevards as the protesters walked from Freedom Park, where thousands more protesters had gathered, to the U.N. human rights headquarters in the city.
In total, about 15,000 protesters turned out, according to the human rights group Licadho.
"We have asked the United Nations to help to find justice for the Cambodian people," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told reporters after delivering the petition. "They promised they will send those petitions to the U.N. headquarters in New York."