Burmese protesters remanded for 10 days
Fauwaz Abdul AzizPublished: Jan 18, 2005 4:31 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
The 164 Burmese Chin immigrants arrested yesterday while demonstrating outside their embassy in Kuala Lumpur will be remanded for 10 days.
The 164 Burmese Chin immigrants arrested yesterday while demonstrating outside their embassy in Kuala Lumpur will be remanded for 10 days.
Pudu police chief Mohd Asri Mohd Yunus told a press conference that Magistrate Aizatul Akmal Maharani had granted the application for a remand order to enable investigations to be carried out.
The Burmese, most of whom did not have proper documentation, are currently detained at the Jalan Hang Tuah police headquarters. There are three women in the group.
"The magistrate came to the (Jalan) Hang Tuah lock-up today and allowed their remand in order to facilitate investigations based on Section 27 (5) of the Police Act, for illegal assembly," said Asri, who led yesterday's operations during the protest gathering.
Another police officer, DSP Tan Ah Chua, said only a handful of the Burmese possessed a letter from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, recognising them as refugees.
"As to whether they will be deported or not, that will be for the magistrate to decide once the investigations have been completed," he said when contacted.
Tan also said the group had been moved to the larger lock-up at the Jalan Hang Tuah police station because there were so many of them. They had initially been held at the Pudu station.
Malaysiakini has learnt that the Burmese had to endure long hours squatting in the hot sun while their particulars were being recorded by police officers.
Cross demolished
The group, led by Burmese community spokesperson and Young Men Chin Christian Association leader Salai San Aung, was protesting against Burma's military junta for its alleged persecution of Christians and for other human rights violations.
Salai had told reporters that the protest was, in particular, against the Burmese leadership's recent demolition of a large concrete cross in Matupi (in southern Chin state) on Jan 3.
"We are being 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 had claimed, before leaving the scene to evade arrest.
The Burmese military regime has been accused of rights and political abuses ever since it assumed power in 1962.
Incidents like the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988 and the continued custody of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi have been condemned by the international community.
Pudu police chief Mohd Asri Mohd Yunus told a press conference that Magistrate Aizatul Akmal Maharani had granted the application for a remand order to enable investigations to be carried out. The Burmese, most of whom did not have proper documentation, are currently detained at the Jalan Hang Tuah police headquarters. There are three women in the group.
"The magistrate came to the (Jalan) Hang Tuah lock-up today and allowed their remand in order to facilitate investigations based on Section 27 (5) of the Police Act, for illegal assembly," said Asri, who led yesterday's operations during the protest gathering.
Another police officer, DSP Tan Ah Chua, said only a handful of the Burmese possessed a letter from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, recognising them as refugees.
"As to whether they will be deported or not, that will be for the magistrate to decide once the investigations have been completed," he said when contacted.
Tan also said the group had been moved to the larger lock-up at the Jalan Hang Tuah police station because there were so many of them. They had initially been held at the Pudu station.
Malaysiakini has learnt that the Burmese had to endure long hours squatting in the hot sun while their particulars were being recorded by police officers. Cross demolished
The group, led by Burmese community spokesperson and Young Men Chin Christian Association leader Salai San Aung, was protesting against Burma's military junta for its alleged persecution of Christians and for other human rights violations.
Salai had told reporters that the protest was, in particular, against the Burmese leadership's recent demolition of a large concrete cross in Matupi (in southern Chin state) on Jan 3.
"We are being 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 had claimed, before leaving the scene to evade arrest.
The Burmese military regime has been accused of rights and political abuses ever since it assumed power in 1962.
Incidents like the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988 and the continued custody of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi have been condemned by the international community.
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