On Sunday, many people went to KLCC including myself to protest the fuel price hike. This protest was mainly organised by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress ( MTUC). As usual the police were there before us.

But one thing was different from the previous protests in that the police gave 10 minutes for the protestors to disperse. At that point, I wondered what happened to the negotiations between MTUC and police officers.

Anyway, the protestors dispersed and many were just standing near the KLCC entrance and talking. But the MTUC leaders or whoever it was who was supposed to have negotiated with the police were missing at that point. Maybe they thought that it was all over and went back.

But then the protestors who dispersed then re-converged near the Public Bank building and came back to protest. They came back to protest as they are really affected by the oil price hike and they wanted to voice out their protest. But when they came back to KLCC, the police behaved in a very ugly manner beating them up and using the water cannons.

I guess the police were acting on instructions from the top to stop people from protesting on the fuel price hike issue. The water cannons, pushing, yelling and arrests were uncalled for. This is because after the last two protests at the KLCC, the crowd left peacefully after protesting.

The police could have given us a bit of space and yes, all would have been well. We would have left after saying what we had to say. After all, we are not going to stay there the night. But no, the police would not hear anything of it. Did the organisers speak to the police at all? This is where the MTUC leadership comes in.

Except for some familiar faces from the NUBE, the other MTUC leaders were nowhere to be seen. Okay, maybe they did not know what was going to happen, but did they come to the police station after the people got arrested? No, they did not.

As the organisers, the MTUC leaders should have negotiated with the police and informed the protestors when to disperse. Clear instructions should have been given. And once the people had dispersed, they should have waited there to ensure no unwanted incidents took place. Their presence there would make a difference.