About 160 Burmese Chin immigrants, including several women, were arrested by the police this morning for demonstrating outside the Burmese embassy off Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

The group, protesting against the Burmese government's alleged persecution of Christians, were hauled up after failing to adhere to the police's order to disperse.

Realising that arrest was imminent, the protestors began to congregate in prayer. Soon after, the 30-odd police personnel, headed by Pudu police station chief Mohd Asri Mohd Yunus, swung into action.

A few tried to struggle but the rest were taken to the waiting police trucks without much fuss. Later in the day, they were taken to be remanded at the Kuala Lumpur remand centre in Pudu.

Earlier, Mohd Asri had given the protestors 15 minutes to disperse. He warned them that they were in breach of Malaysian law and could face arrest for an illegal assembly.

"You must respect our law. There are more than three of you gathered which amounts to an illegal assembly. This is a public area and you are disturbing the peace. If u don't leave, I will disperse all of you by force or by arresting you," he told them in English.

The police chief had initially asked a Burmese embassy personnel - only known as Zaw - standing inside the building's guarded gates to translate what he had said. However, the official said the protestors "were all educated" and refused to get involved.

Religious repression

The protestors had failed to convince Mohd Asri to allow them a day long protest. They were in turn accused of causing a ruckus, in the semi-residential area, with their chants.

It is unclear whether those arrested have refugee status. Those found not to have valid travel documents are likely to be deported.

The protestors arrived at the embassy at 10.50am in three bus loads. Soon after setting up a protest parameter using pink ribbons, they began their protest against the human rights violations in their homeland.

Wearing large pink and red paper crosses on their t-shirts, the group chanted, in Burmese and English, calling for the end to religious repression back home and in the world at large.

They flashed banners which read "Malaysian government's concern over religious persecution and human rights violations in Myanmar is much needed", "Refugees are amounting in Myanmar" and "Myanmar government has no mercy on tsunami victims".

Cross demolished

Community spokesperson and the Young Men Chin Christian Association leader Salai San Aung told reporters that the protest was also against the Burmese military leadership's recent demolition of a large concrete cross in Matupi (in Burma's southern Chin state) on Jan 3 this year.

"We are persecuted. The cross - a symbol erected by all Christian denominations - was destroyed by the junta. We are refugees. We fled from the Burmese jungles but are now forced to live in Malaysian jungles," he said adding that they urged involvement from the international community to end abuses against all Burmese.

"We can't go back to our country. We can't do anything. We are refugees now in Malaysia."

Salai 'disappeared' soon before the arrests began.

As the scene cleared, traces of their protest remained - in the form of broken and trampled-on crosses belonging to the protestors - on the street outside the Burmese embassy.

The Burmese military regime has long been accused of rights and political abuses ever since it assumed power in 1962.

The most internationally condemned incidents being the killings of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988 and the continued imprisonment of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.