While the 12 anti-war protesters have since been released, the police nevertheless came under fire for what have been described as provocative action and double standard in handling anti-war demonstrations.

Firing the first salvo against the cops for yesterday's incident, Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) president Dr Syed Husin Ali said it was totally unnecessary for the police to arrest the group outside the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC).

Syed Husin was among 12 persons arrested after a two-and-a-half hour demonstration which saw protesters moving around several locations in the KLCC area, including the Australian Embassy. They had earlier been refused police permission to march towards the United States Embassy in Jalan Tun Razak.

The group, which included five PRM members, five PAS supporters and two passers-by, were released yesterday at about 10 pm after the police recorded their details. They have been told to report to the Dang Wangi police station o­n April 8.

'Shameful' treatment

Contacted today, Syed Husin said the police had acted wrongly by shooting tear gas into an already dispersing crowd along Jalan Ampang.

"They also rushed unnecessarily towards KLCC to arrest people, including some young students. That's why PRM Youth leaders were arrested as well," he said, adding that he was merely sheltering from the rain outside KLCC while he waited for several others to leave together.

"The police were very provocative. If they did their duties well, things would not have happened like this."

The PRM leader said the group was first brought to the Police Training Centre at Jalan Semarak in the city, and later transferred to the Dang Wangi police station.

"They wanted to take our statements but we told them that we would give our statements in court if they decide to charge us. They took our finger prints and photographed us," he said.

Asked why the group was first brought to the Police Training Centre rather than a police station as is usually the case, Syed Husin said he was uncertain.

"There were a lot of tables and chairs prepared (at the training centre). It could be that they were expecting to arrest a lot of people," he said.

Syed Husin said the police action to curtail the planned procession to the US Embassy was "shameful" since Malaysian leaders, including Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had expressed strong disapproval at the war o­n Iraq.

"They had talked big about their stand against US aggression but look at the way they treated us," he said while pointing out that the arrests and the KLCC demonstration received little press coverage.

Handcuffed

Meanwhile, PRM deputy youth chief Latheefa Koya, who was also arrested, told malaysiakini she was nabbed after she argued with the police over their manner of dispersing the crowd.

"The police were shouting at people to go and they brought in the Federal Reserve Unit officers. (PRM Youth chief Faizal Sanusi) was arrested when he tried to tell them not to shout and scare people.

"I told them not to be so samseng (gangster-like) and they cornered me. A police officer said he saw me everywhere so they handcuffed me. But those are not grounds to arrest me," she said.

When questioned if the police had taken action because the crowd did not disperse after several warnings, Latheefa said the police should have just allowed the anti-war protesters to march towards the US Embassy, as they originally intended.

"Why stop them? If they could allow the Peace Malaysia group to march from Padang Merbok to Dataran Merdeka, why could they not have given us some leeway here? They gave a lot of help to the other group (to manage the crowd)."

Further questioned why the opposition parties and non-government groups had not joined the demonstration organised by the Peace Malaysia group, Latheefa said the KLCC event was organised because Peace Malaysia had earlier indicated that they would not be holding a protest.

"We announced the demonstration first. Peace Malaysia said they would not be having o­ne. If they wanted to organise o­ne, they could have joined us (since) KLCC is more accessible to the public.

"Anyway, there is nothing with having two demonstrations since they are a lot of people against the war. It is more spontaneous. It is double standard for the police to allow o­ne group (to march) but not the other," she said.

Protesters 'tricked' police

Following the arrests yesterday, Cheras police chief Mohd Noor Masdar told reporters that the arrests were made after protesters refused to disperse despite repeated warnings by the police.

"They have been going around from o­ne spot to another and took us for a ride for nearly o­ne-and-a-half hoursWe did not give them the right to march but we gave them the chance to voice out whatever they wanted to."

"Their group leaders promised that they would disperse quietly but they later turned around and held a procession instead," said the officer-in-charge of the operations.

The demonstration was jointly organised by some 20 groups, including opposition parties, non-government organisations and student groups.

Although the demonstration started peacefully outside KLCC, the police later lost control of the moving crowd, and fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse the protesters.

According to today's newspapers, the parallel anti-war demonstration organised by the Peace Malaysian movement at Dataran Merdeka attracted a crowd of at least 4,000 persons and proceeded without any untoward incident.

Among government leaders present for the Peace Malaysia demonstration were Youth and Sports Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Housing and Local Government Minister O­ng Ka Ting and Women and Family Development Minister Sharizat Abdul Jalil.

Hishammuddin also launched the Malaysian International Fund for Peace to collect public donations for aid efforts in Iraq.


pix by Yap Mun Ching/malaysiakini