By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH

 A protest against dog meat consumption was cut short in the Cambodian capital at the weekend, demonstrators denied the right to bring the culinary plight of man's best friend to the fore.

Dog-lover Catherine Harry told The Anadolu Agency on Monday that police had broken up her group's “Say No to Dog Meat” pet-walking protest at a park in central Phnom Penh - one of many held worldwide Sunday.

“There were 30 people with dogs. We had some banners, flyers, but when I got there they were surrounded by 20 to 30 police," she said. 

"They were very rude and aggressive and told us to get off the park, even though we tried to reason with them.”

The sale of dog meat is not uncommon in Cambodia, particularly in rural towns where more expensive cuts of meat are shipped to the capital.

Areas such as Koh Thom district in Kandal province also dine on rat, although more meaty rodents are weighed, processed, and then exported to Vietnam.

In a country where strays are common and meat can be scarce dog consumption remains an option.

In 2003, former Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema even went as far as to encourage the public to eat dog meat “because it is so delicious.”

Eating it would help curb the number of strays on the streets, he added.

Harry - a consultant with a translation firm, who says she has rescued two dogs from an animal shelter in the capital - disagrees.

“Dogs are meant as friends,” she says. “We own them and don’t like seeing them being killed.”

She told AA that she was surprised that police had broken up Sunday's rally as they had received permission from City Hall.

Some of the officers were armed, and referred to us as "dogs," she added - one officer even threatening to kick one of the participant’s pets to death.

“It baffled me, because it has never happened before.”

Reached by telephone Monday, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche confirmed that the group had applied for permission to hold the event, but he said that that none had been given.

“I can’t say if that’s a law or not [to walk dogs in a park], but it was prohibited because they didn’t have permission,” he said.

“We received a request letter, but we replied that we cannot allow them to arrange this walk with dogs and cats because its very strange to have this kind of walk in the city... but they still gathered and we tried to stop them.”

An event was also organized for Indonesia Sunday, but with a cat caveat - hundreds of cat and dog lovers gathering under the banner “Say No to Dog and Cat Meat” at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in central Jakarta.

They brought banners and brochures while shouting slogans; some also brought their pets.

The Jakarta Post reported coordinator Doni Herdaru as saying that cats and dogs were friends of humans.

Not only was it inhumane to consume them, she said - such pets also carry the threat of cholera and rabies.