Emptying the cities

Within days of taking power, the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of Phnom Penh and other cities. Approximately two million people were forced into the countryside on foot, told they would return in a few days. They did not. The cities remained largely empty for the entire period of Khmer Rouge rule. Hospitals, schools, factories, banks were abandoned. Currency was abolished. The regime declared Year Zero, the beginning of a new revolutionary society.