Keadilan today condemned the police for using excessive force in handing a students march in Kuala Lumpur last week and called for an apology.

Its secretary-general Mustaffa Kamil Ayub said the party was concerned that such actions would taint the police's image and lead to the public losing faith in them.

"This 'violent' action will also affect the country's image in the eyes of the world," he added in a statement.

On Friday, student leader Syahrir Mahmood, 28, was arrested when police prevented about 300 students from marching to the magistrate's court from the national mosque in support of seven other undergraduates on trial for illegal assembly.

Syahrir and Amien Arif from a youth group who call themselves Universti Bangsar Utama were also injured during the incident. However, the student leader was released on police bail later and told to report back on Aug 1.

Yesterday, Syahrir lodged a police report on the matter claiming that the police had used excessive and unnecessary force.

Apology warranted

Mustaffa said the students were not flouting the law as they merely moving towards the court after performing their prayers to provide moral support for their friends.

"Therefore, Keadilan feels that the police should apologise to those detained and injured in the incident," he added.

He also called on the court to free the seven students who were charged with illegal assembly. They were arrested after participating in an anti-Internal Security Act demonstration in 2001 and have since been suspended from their respective universities.

"The universities should give them the right to education which has been denied for the past two years," he added.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the Badan Bertindak Mahasiswa Negara (BBMN) Haris Alimudin said the police had acted "unprofessionally and unethically".

"The use of such stern measures to disperse a peaceful march once again reveals how much freedom of speech has eroded in this country," he said in a statement.

Haris said the police officer who led the operation should accept full responsibility and added that Syahrir should be freed unconditionally as well.