This is the shocking moment a Cambodian villager was caught on camera stealing barbed wire from Thai police during border protests.

The civilians and Thai riot police were squaring off at a frontier village in Sa Kaeo, Thailand, when one of the Cambodians took a spool of razor wire on September 18.

Footage captured the protester brazenly dragging the metal roll toward the Cambodian side using a wooden pole while the officer's back was turned.

The furious officer then pointed at the man and repeatedly said: 'Control your people! Don't do this!'

The incident occurred as protests from the Cambodia side broke out along the Thai-Cambodia border last week, in the worst escalation since a military ceasefire was brokered by ASEAN members in July.

Thai riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the civilians who were trying to tear down razor wire fences and hurling insults at the officers.

Cambodian officials claimed 23 villagers were injured, while the Thai authorities said several troops were also wounded.

Thailand has since given Cambodia 30 days to clear the area if no agreement is reached after the next General Border Committee talk.

Thailand and Cambodia have been fighting for more than a century over several undemarcated sections of their 817-kilometre (508-mile) border, which was originally mapped by France in 1907 while Cambodia was still its protectorate.

But tensions flared in the long-disputed frontier as both accused each other of instigating violence on July 24, which killed at least 48 and temporarily displaced some 300,000 on both sides of the border.

Cambodia claimed responsibility for an alleged war crime, firing rockets into Thailand that struck a gas station, killing a number of children.

The two nations have reached a shaky truce following talks facilitated by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).