A clothing trader has alleged that she was slapped by a city council officer yesterday during an incident yesterday when the two argued over her stall arrangements.

Norazimah Mohamad Nor said she lodged a police report against the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) officer identified only as Roslan at the Dang Wangi police station.

According to her, the altercation took place when a group of DBKL officers patrolling the Masjid Jamek area had asked for stall owners to remove their wares from the road.

Norazimah, 28, said she was in the process of doing so when she was harassed by several officers for not being quick enough.

"He started accusing me of being an Indonesian and asked to see my identity card. I told him that I am a Malaysian and I did nothing wrong," she said.

During the ensuing quarrel, Norazimah said the officer pushed and slapped her hard across her face.

"My cheek and lips are still swollen. This officer who did it was in uniform," she claimed when contacted today.

Lack of decorum

Meanwhile, another trader who witnessed the incident said the officer who was hassling Norazimah took an increasingly belligerent attitude as a crowd gathered at the scene.

"He started pushing his finger in Norazimah's face. He accused her of being an Indonesian illegal and became very provocative. A ranked officer only came to the scene after she was hit," she said.

Norazimah subsequently lodged her complaint while accompanied by her lawyers R Sivarasa and M Moganambal.

When contacted Moganambal said the officers had displayed a lack of decorum by using physical force against the trader.

"An officer who is in uniform cannot hit people, particularly a woman in this case. According to Norazimah, her son was also kicked during the quarrel," she said, adding that Norazimah had requested for the lawyers' help when she bumped into them after the incident.

The lawyers had also tried to ascertain the identity of the officer after the incident but the latter had refused to come out of the heavily tinted DBKL vehicle where he was in.

Moganambal claimed that another officer, identified as Shamsuddin, had issued further threats against Norazimah, warning her not to regret her actions in lodging a police report.

A representative from DBKL said, however, that the council has not yet received any complaints on the matter.