Final answer:
The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, forced the population of Cambodia to leave urban areas for collective farms and labor camps, leading to the deaths of millions. The specific chants they used as people were forced to leave cities are not well-documented. The regime's brutal policies targeted intellectuals, skilled workers, and minorities and lasted until Vietnam's invasion in 1978 led to their decline.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Khmer Rouge, under the dictatorship of Pol Pot, orchestrated one of the most brutal and catastrophic periods in Cambodian history. After seizing the capital, Phnom Penh, in 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of cities and towns, pushing the population into rural areas to fulfill their vision of an agrarian utopia. Eyewitness accounts and reports suggest that as people were driven from their homes, they were often deceived with chants and promises of temporary relocation for their own safety, only to be subjected to forced labor, persecution, and mass executions. The actual chants that the Khmer Rouge shouted as people left the cities are not well-documented, but it is known that they pushed propaganda to justify the forced evacuations.
Between 1975 and 1978, the Khmer Rouge aimed to transform Cambodian society by creating a classless, purely agrarian community, which led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people from starvation, disease, overwork, and execution. The regime particularly targeted skilled workers, intellectuals, and minorities. With the invasion of Vietnam in 1978, the Khmer Rouge's grip on the country began to weaken, eventually culminating in the demise of their reign of terror. Pol Pot died in 1998, and the remnants of the Khmer Rouge were either surrendered or arrested, with several leaders being charged with crimes against humanity.