The Ipoh police tonight arrested two DAP members for being outside the party headquarters where an indoor candlelight vigil was taking place.

The police arrested them at 8.45pm on the grounds that the two were "going to take part in an illegal assembly". About 14 Federal Reserve Unit personnel were involved in the arrests.

dap perak ipoh candle light vigil arrest 270509 02 One of those arrested was state DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming's driver G Haridass, 34. The other was a Taiping DAP division leader and councillor Simon Uthaya Kumar, 51 ( photo ).

They have been taken to the Ipoh district police station.

Apparently, the duo were chatting outside the DAP headquarters while the indoor vigil was taking place. They were approached by the police who demanded to know why they were attending an "illegal assembly".

According to eyewitnesses, the two retorted that they were not participating in the vigil, but one of the cops shouted "don't challenge the police" and ordered the arrests.

State DAP and Pakatan leaders, who heard of the commotion outside came out of the office and tried arguing with the police that the arrests were uncalled for but the police refused to budge.

dap perak ipoh candle light vigil arrest 270509 03 According to DAP, the reason given by the police for the arrests was "absurd" as the vigil was held indoor.

The leaders later went back inside the party headquarters to continue their candlelight vigil - which started at 8pm - to protest against the the 'death of democracy' in Perak.

The vigil was attended by Nga, state DAP chief Ngeh Khoo Ham and other Pakatan elected representatives.

Ousted menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin also joined the crowd which consisted of about 30 people.

People getting angry

After the vigil, the Pakatan leaders took turns to address the crowd and lashed out at the police for the spate of arrests since this morning.

dap perak ipoh candle light vigil arrest 270509 01 Nga, who took to the microphone first, said the people were watching the actions of Barisan Nasional and the police.

"They are getting angry and will get angrier (with the latest incident). When that happens, we know that is the day BN will suffer," he said.

Ngeh, meanwhile, blamed the police for acting in an arrogant manner.

"They are to be blamed for the fiasco that is happening here," he said.

Nizar lamented that "democracy has been killed and buried by Umno."

nizar vs zambry case hearing 210509 01 He said if BN Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir "has the guts, he should call for the dissolution of the state assembly (and hold a fresh elections)."

Nizar added that during Pakatan's 10-month rule, the administration had earned the respect of the people due to its integrity.

"BN does not know how to administer the state, we are ready to teach them," he told the indoor crowd, which had since swollen to about 100, during his brief speech.

Nizar also criticised the large deployment of the police during by-elections.

Describing it as a waste of public funds, he claimed that the show of force was not for the security of the people, but rather that of Umno leaders.

Duo released at 11.35pm

The Pakatan leaders later went to the Ipoh police station to check on the status of the two who were arrested.

The duo were freed on police bail at 11.35pm and told to report back to the Ipoh magistrate's court on June 26 where they are expected to be charged with illegal assembly.

This morning, the police arrested 19 people . Today was the launch of Pakatan's hunger strike to call for the dissolution of the state assembly.

But as early as 6.30am, the police swung into action detaining five workers who were setting up a canopy and a giant ballon for the hunger strike.

Five hours later, 14 others, including eight Pakatan elected representatives, were arrested for illegal assembly.

All those arrested were released by 6pm and told to report back to the police station on June 26.