Freedom Park, Public gathering plaza in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Freedom Park is an open public plaza in downtown Phnom Penh situated near embassies and government institutions. The space provides room for groups to gather and assemble together.

Freedom Park, also called Democracy Square, hosted both peaceful and violent protests after the July 1998 general election; authorities suppressed demonstrations by September. In December 2016 Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the plaza relocated and renamed Democracy Park, and Phnom Penh City Hall carried out the move in 2017, closing the original site and designating Sokimex Park in Russey Keo District as the replacement.

The Khmer name Democracy Square tied the plaza to the 1998 post-election protests, which were put down by September of that year. In 2016 Hun Sen ordered the site moved and renamed Democracy Park, and Phnom Penh City Hall closed the original square in 2017. Critics called the move a curb on assembly; the city said the new site, with a garden, was larger.

The original plaza on the 8,000-square-kilometre site was closed to the public in 2017, so the gathering space now sits at Sokimex Park beside the Tonlé Sap River in Russey Keo District. The replacement is over twice the size of the old square and includes a garden. Check which site you are heading to before setting out.

The original Freedom Park was closed to the public in 2017, when Phnom Penh City Hall moved the site to Sokimex Park beside the Tonlé Sap River in Russey Keo District. The replacement was renamed Democracy Park and covers 20,000 square kilometres, more than twice the old plaza's 8,000.