PSM: Police stirred up protesters

The police had provoked “restlessness” among some 200 protesters at Saturday’s candlelight vigil by the Anti-War Coalition, claimed Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

He said that, while the organisers were negotiating with Dang Wangi police officer Sydney Clyde Jeremiah, other officers “began harassing” the crowd.

“We talking to Sydney trying to get him to allow us to at least gather for an hour but the police begun to surround us from the back... some of them even snatched the placards from the participants,” Arutchelvan (left) said when contacted today.

He also alleged that a police officer had used offensive language on those gathered.

“The whole world is gathering over the huge number of civilians being massacred in the attacks on Gaza by Israel, but we are not even allowed to hold candles,” said Arutchelvan.

According to reports, the Palestinian death toll stands at 890 after Israel began its bloody attacks on Dec 27.

The coalition had organised five candlelight gatherings simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Penang and Johor to oppose Israeli aggression against Palestine and the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Twenty-one participants were arrested at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur after allegedly refusing to comply with police orders to disperse.

They included Klang DAP member of parliament Charles Santiago, PSM president Dr Nasir Hashim, and an under-aged participant. However, they were released on police bail the same day.

Nasir (left), the Kota Damansara assemblyperson, said police action “was shameful” and that only the vigil in Kuala Lumpur had been disrupted.

“The disturbance of our vigil was simply a capitalist agenda... they (the police) behaved like gangsters [...] in uniform,” he said.

Similar protests had been held last week, including a rally by 5,000 anti-war activists who had marched to the US embassy in Jalan Tun Razak.

Yesterday afternoon, another group of protesters in Kampung Baru burnt the US and Israeli flags in the middle of a road.

Police did not intervene in either gathering.

'Sole champion'

Santiago said that police action against the vigil was probably prompted by the authorities trying to monopolise support for Palestine.

“The government is attempting to portray itself as the sole champion of victims in the war in Gaza,” he claimed.

“I would think that the other gatherings were illegal. I don't think the Umno members had a police permit to burn flags on the street. However, the other two were allowed to proceed without police intervention. Obviously, this is an application of double standards.

“You know, I have friends from Palestine whose families are in Gaza. I also worked with Palestine Liberation Organisation when I studied in the US... the government should not think that it is the only one who can and should be allowed to protest against the war on Gaza.”

Batu MP and PKR information chief Tian Chua accused the government of being “hypocritical” in opposing the attacks in Palestine.

The government's action in arresting the activists reveals that its stand is in support of Israel's Zionist regime, he said in a statement.

He added that the arrests were unjustified and that the government should be creating space for civil movements whatever their political affiliation.

Home Minister defends arrests at vigil

Meanwhile, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar defended the police' arrest of the 21 people at the candlelight vigil, saying that the demonstrators were not concerned with the issue of Israeli aggression as they were about the civil war in Sri Lanka.

They also did not have a police permit to assemble, he added.

He said that they had refused to disperse when ordered to do so by the police.

They also had created public disorder and had hurled insults at the police officers on duty, he added.

"These people were not demonstrating on the issue of Palestinians. They were actually demonstrating on the issue of Sri Lanka.

"The placards showed they were in support of Sri Lanka. Let us not mix the issues.

"This is an occasion of tragedy and sadness, a thing that has happened in Palestine and that Israel is committing state terrorism. Don't mix it up with other things," he told reporters when met outside the Dewan Rakyat today.