Yet the Khmer Rouge did not disappear until much later, and continued to hold Cambodia's seat at the United Nations for twelve years. A post-Pol Pot government with some democratic features, led by a reestablished monarchy, took over. Vietnamese troops stayed in the country until 1989, with armed clashes between Vietnamese and Cambodians going on throughout the 1980s. At first, survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime considered the Vietnamese to be liberators, but they were soon viewed as occupiers. The Vietnamese sought to remove the Khmer Rouge from power. Specially targeted were the inhabitants of the areas close to the Vietnamese border. In addition, anyone who was believed to be an intellectual was killed: doctors, lawyers, teachers, even people who wore glasses or knew a foreign language became targets. The Khmer Rouge targeted ethnic minorities, especially Chinese, Vietnamese, and Muslim Cham, of whom an estimated 80% were killed. The regime forced families to live communally with other people, in order to destroy the family structure. They forced citizens into what they called reeducation schools, which were essentially places of state propaganda. The Khmer Rouge referred to people who supported their vision as “pure people,” and persecuted anyone they deemed “impure.” Within days of taking power, the regime killed thousands of military personnel and forcibly moved millions of people out of cities, killing anyone who refused or was too slow. The Khmer Rouge based their policies on the idea that citizens of Cambodia had become corrupted by outside influences, especially Vietnam and the capitalist West. There were mass graves throughout the country, areas that became known as “killing fields.” Of the roughly 17,000 men, women, and children who were brought to S-21 there were only about a dozen survivors. The most infamous of these prisons was known as “S-21,” located in the capital city of Phnom Penh, where accused “traitors” and their families were brought, photographed, tortured, and killed. Citizens could be detained for the slightest offenses, and the government set up vast prisons where people were held, tortured, and executed. The Khmer Rouge ruled a totalitarian state in which citizens had essentially no rights – they abolished civil and political rights, private property, money, religious practices, minority languages, and foreign clothing.
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