Protest on Tiananmen massacre at embassy
Kow Gah ChiePublished: Jun 4, 2014 4:55 AM | Updated: Jun 4, 2014 9:59 AM
A dozen Malaysians staged a protest at China's Embassy in Kuala Lumpur today to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre 25 years ago.
A dozen Malaysians staged a protest at China's Embassy in Kuala Lumpur today to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre 25 years ago.
They demanded that China release dissidents and activists who had been detained over the incident.
Dubbed ‘besiege the embassy’, the protest was halted by over 20 members of the police and light strike force who were at the premises.
They were ordered to leave the embassy. However, the group argued and attempted to resist the orders of the authorities.
“Make amends for the June 4 incident, release human right activists,” shouted the group while being chased away by police.
They even held up placards and banners on which were written ‘Be accountable for Tiananmen massacre, release all incarcerated political dissidents’, ‘Butcher, Communist Party’.
The group even put up a mask of Ding Zilin, the mother of student Jiang Jielian who was killed in the incident, and who has been placed under house arrest.
The police held that the organisers of the rally, ‘the working committee for 25th anniversary commemoration of June 4 incident’, had failed to notify them as required by the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
No arrests made
However no arrests were made and police ultimately allowed the protesters to try to send their memorandum to the ambassador, Huang Hui Kang.
The group at first put in the memorandum in the form of a replica of an army tank, which symbolised the Tiananmen incident where tanks where used against students and social activists.
But the police disallowed that, and it was taken out.
Spokesperson for the group Ng Yap Hwa sarcastically said that in China, the police had guarded the Tiananmen Square heavily during the anniversary.
"Today the Malaysian police have become the China police. The China Embassy in Malaysia has turned into Tiananmen Square. We are just a group of civilians who are entitled to the right to rally," he asserted.
Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng said the Malaysian government has succumbed to China’s pressure, which caused the police reaction on the rally.
The group, however, then refused to hand over the memo following the embassy’s decision to have a security guard accept the memo, as he was not eligible to represent the embassy.
They put forward four demands through the memo, urging China to release the truth about the crackdown , apologise to the families of the deceased, democratise the country and stop persecuting and release the dissidents.
It was reported that over 50 dissidents had been arrested in China before June 4.
Ng criticised China for its cowardly act in not sending out someone who could represent the embassy to accept their memo and refusing to face the consequences of the violent crackdown by China on June 4, 1989.
The rally was conducted in response to urgings by activists and witnesses of the incident in China who had started the ‘Global Siege’ campaign.
Beside the rally, the committee had also held an exhibition at Jalan Panggong, KL and a forum, which had alerted the China embassy. It was reported that two police officers went to have a look at the exhibition after tip-offs were allegedly made by the embassy.
It was also reported that the rally organiser has been asked to come to a police station over whether they had given a notification of the rally 10 days earlier.
They demanded that China release dissidents and activists who had been detained over the incident.Dubbed ‘besiege the embassy’, the protest was halted by over 20 members of the police and light strike force who were at the premises.
They were ordered to leave the embassy. However, the group argued and attempted to resist the orders of the authorities.
“Make amends for the June 4 incident, release human right activists,” shouted the group while being chased away by police.
They even held up placards and banners on which were written ‘Be accountable for Tiananmen massacre, release all incarcerated political dissidents’, ‘Butcher, Communist Party’.
The group even put up a mask of Ding Zilin, the mother of student Jiang Jielian who was killed in the incident, and who has been placed under house arrest.
The police held that the organisers of the rally, ‘the working committee for 25th anniversary commemoration of June 4 incident’, had failed to notify them as required by the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
No arrests made
However no arrests were made and police ultimately allowed the protesters to try to send their memorandum to the ambassador, Huang Hui Kang.
The group at first put in the memorandum in the form of a replica of an army tank, which symbolised the Tiananmen incident where tanks where used against students and social activists.
But the police disallowed that, and it was taken out.
Spokesperson for the group Ng Yap Hwa sarcastically said that in China, the police had guarded the Tiananmen Square heavily during the anniversary."Today the Malaysian police have become the China police. The China Embassy in Malaysia has turned into Tiananmen Square. We are just a group of civilians who are entitled to the right to rally," he asserted.
Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng said the Malaysian government has succumbed to China’s pressure, which caused the police reaction on the rally.
The group, however, then refused to hand over the memo following the embassy’s decision to have a security guard accept the memo, as he was not eligible to represent the embassy.They put forward four demands through the memo, urging China to release the truth about the crackdown , apologise to the families of the deceased, democratise the country and stop persecuting and release the dissidents.
It was reported that over 50 dissidents had been arrested in China before June 4.
Ng criticised China for its cowardly act in not sending out someone who could represent the embassy to accept their memo and refusing to face the consequences of the violent crackdown by China on June 4, 1989.The rally was conducted in response to urgings by activists and witnesses of the incident in China who had started the ‘Global Siege’ campaign.
Beside the rally, the committee had also held an exhibition at Jalan Panggong, KL and a forum, which had alerted the China embassy. It was reported that two police officers went to have a look at the exhibition after tip-offs were allegedly made by the embassy.
It was also reported that the rally organiser has been asked to come to a police station over whether they had given a notification of the rally 10 days earlier.
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