20,000 people gather 'for end of the world' after politician predicts 'biblical' flood

Thousands of people are huddled together at a politician's rural farm in Cambodia as they await the 'end of the world'.

We've all heard the ominous words doomsday is coming spoke with certainty - when exactly it's arriving is a little less clear.

But 20,000 people hauled up at a farm in rural Cambodia think it could be soon.

Khem Veasna/Facebook

The end of the world prophecy came, as we all expected it to - through Facebook.

Politician Khem Veasna shared his views with his 370,000 page followers.

"I can't sleep because whenever I sleep, my spinal cord is pulling so hard, because the world is breaking down, and the water is flowing into the gap," the politician said on 23 August.

And his followers, upon hearing that doomsday was due soon, packed up their belongings and headed to his farm.

It is not yet clear how many people are residing at the residence, although it's estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000.

Pictures shared on the politician's Facebook page show masses of people still shuffling in.

Veasna has been a long-standing critic and opposition of the Cambodian government.

Khem Veasna/Facebook

Astrid Norén-Nilsson, a senior lecturer at Lund University's Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, explained to Vice News how exactly Veasna gathered such a following.

"Even though the opposition has been allowed to resurrect to some extent, Cambodia is still very much marked by how this is a one-party mandate period."

That party is the Cambodian People's Party, and while the last government election ruled in their favour, many suggested it was rigged.

Veasna's party secured 310,000 votes during the election, with Norén-Nilsson going on to add: "Khem Veasna denounced politics and brought his followers with him on the journey to become a sort of millenarian social movement. 

Khem Veasna/Facebook

"It evidently speaks to people in these globally uncertain and rather dark times."

The farmhouse is not said to be equipped to house the masses of people who have arrived, with locals complaining that visitors were pooping in public places due to the lack of toilets.

Local authorities have called for Veasna's followers to go home and have set up barricades to stop more people from entering.

According to reports, Veasna has supposedly agreed to disperse the crowd later today, 30 August, unless there is any doomsday-like events.

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