PKR vice-president Tian Chua today broke his silence on claims that he had led the crowd to ‘attack’ police at KL Sentral on July 9, by pushing the blame squarely back on to the cops.

Calling the police-produced video, said to depict him as a ringleader in an ‘attack’ during the chaotic incident a “distortion”, Chua said that singling him out does not absolve the police of any guilt.

“Hundreds of people were eyewitnesses to the incident. The edited video cannot distort the truth.

NONE"The government should accept the responsibility of excessive force against peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally.

"The witchhunt whether on me or other participants cannot absolve the guilt of brutality on July 9,” he said in a statement.

"Although the police did not specifically accuse me of 'charging' at the police, reports in mainstream media insinuated that I and other demonstrators intended to 'attack' or cause physical harm to the police officers.

"This is far from the truth," he added.

Chua’s statement comes soon after Bersih 2.0 steering committee member Haris Ibrahim accused him of putting lives at risk by turning the rally violent.

“You took it upon yourself to alter a peaceful rally to one of aggression and, in so doing, put many out there at risk to life and limb,” Haris said in a blog post today.

He said that the MP has “some explaining to do” after a video footage and accounts of three eyewitnesses allegedly proved that he had disrespected Bersih 2.0 leaders on that day.

On his post, Haris had embedded a 40 second amateur video - not the one issued by police - of a standoff between scores of protestors and riot police.

Chua and several others were recorded counting down and then running towards the police, before tear gas was shot directly at them.

‘Video vindicated us’

The Batu MP was at the transportation hub on the day of the rally, along with opposition leaders Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Abdul Hadi Awang as well as Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenivasan.

NONEChua said police had shot 14 shells of tear gas into the crowd when they were in a tunnel-like enclosure, resulting in a scramble as the protestors tried to get to open air.

"Anybody in that circumstance could notice (there was) danger of staying in the enclosure once the police fired the tear gas.

"The video footage only showed a few people rushing out toward the open air, and tear gas was fired directly into the crowd," the Batu MP said.

Speaking on the day of the incident, police chief Ismail Omar, however, denied that tear gas were ever shot at KL Sentral. 

The video, said Chua, has rebutted the IGP’s statement, as it “showed that the police fired the tear gas canisters horizontally into the enclosed zone non-stop”.

“The police action was evidently malicious and intended to cause maximum harm to the peaceful group without warning. It was unprovoked and unwarranted action. It was police brutality,” he said.

The MP also urged police to cooperate with the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam)’s public inquiry and let “the public then judge based on those facts”.

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