YOURSAY 'If this was considered ‘maximum restraint', I shudder to think what would have happened if it was ‘minimum restraint'.'

'Maximum restraint' order for cops at Bersih 3.0 rally

Panas: None of the 250,000 Malaysians at Bersih 3.0 will believe the police's maximum restrain' directive.

It was a case of thuggery - punching and kicking fallen demonstrators who were unable to defend themselves by police officers who had removed their name tags.

And videos will show many fallen demonstrators were set upon by as many as a dozen of kicking police officers.

It's more believable if PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police) said that the order of maximum restrain was given, but the police officers did not obey the order and the PDRM lost control on that day.

Alternatively, someone may have changed the directive. Or another plausible explanation, no such maximum restrain was given and the PDRM is lying through their teeth.

Not Confused: I know from personal experience at the rally that the police's actions were anything but restrained.

With the number of police present within Dataran Merdeka, it was very easy job to restrain the few foolhardy idiots who broke down the barriers (read: provocateurs?).

Chasing us into the side streets and beating many into submission was certainly not restraint. It was criminal thuggery and much of it was not only witnessed by us, but caught on video too.

dataran breach barricade cordon 290412 Paul Warren: Photographs show that at the junction of Jalan Parliament and Jalan Raja the police stood at the barricades from the morning of April 28. But just before 3pm they withdrew, some running backwards even to something like 30-50 meters behind the barricade.

Photos show that at that moment in time, the crowd stood still watching. Other pictures showing the one or two men pushing aside the barricades almost acting alone, and they were doing so after the police had withdrawn.

Can I suggest that it was a tactical withdrawal to signal to agents provocateurs to begin the process of removing the barricades and with just a little noise to mobilise the crowd to push through the barricades.

Why the withdrawal of the troops at the barricades at that time? Was it because only moments before Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga had announced the rally was over?

There was no reason for the troops to withdraw when they did. No one was threatening the barricades when the order to withdraw was given.

Ez24get: If the cops had been given maximum restraint orders, then the Hanif Omar panel should investigate why the cops:

1) Put up razor barricades (not barb wires).

2) Took out their badges and bashed up the public and reporters a kilometre away from the court-ordered limitation zones.

3) Why the most amount of tear gas and acid water in Bersih's history was used on the public far away from Dataran Merdeka.

It definitely looks like maximum infliction orders, and not maximum restraint orders, were in place.

If the panel does not investigate this issue, then it is very apparent that it is not independent and the exercise is a complete waste of money.

Artchan: Maximum restraint, my foot. The orders were to secure Dataran Merdeka.

And yet the police were chasing people up to Menara Maybank and tear gas was fired in the vicinity of Puduraya.

Hanif, do you know how far Menara Maybank is from Dataran Merdeka?

Malaysiawatch4: It's not as if Dataran was a nuclear power station, so the act of even getting the court order just to be able to carry out brutal acts against unarmed civilians, reflects the calibre of people we have as leaders.... What imbeciles.

Dood: If the police abuse we saw on numerous videos was considered "maximum restraint", I shudder to think what would have happened if it was anything less than "maximum restraint".

Anonymous_40c8: From the moment Hanif was appointed chairman, the general perception was that this would be a panel the people would not accept nor trust.

From Hanif's words at the first sitting, it seems our doubts were not unjustified.

Queenie: Regarding the panel's report, it might as well be thrown into the ‘tong sampah' (rubbish bin) because it is going to be biased against Bersih 3.0.

Also Hanif's insistence that he head the panel is something I find hard to stomach. We might as well rope in former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad who already had a thing or two to say about the rally.

As to the police coming down hard on the people well away from the barricaded square, I like to hear what the panel has to say about this. I need a joke or two to spice up my life every now and then.

Ferdtan: "When asked whether there was an order to chase protesters to areas far from the Dataran Merdeka, he said, it is not in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), but the question would be referred to police officers on the ground in future hearings."

Mohmad Salleh, as the Kuala Lumpur police chief, you were asked this direct question, so just answer it: "Did you or not issue that order?"

A simple yes or no will do. Why is it so difficult for you to answer that?

It seems that you are evading the question. Do you have something to hide that you cannot even answer a simple direct question?

Nah! Nah! Nah!: A thief shall not judge another thief.

TTT: "And they (had) made certain that you know that is the limit, and they put (up) barricades. Three lines of barricades. So if you break through, it means you absolutely want to break through."

Does that mean if someone breaks through my gate (which is a barricade), and I manage to chase the intruder out of my house, I can proceed chasing him even 1km away from my property and beat him up, as well as anyone who is near him as they may be in collusion with him.

This is well within your ‘definition' of the rights of someone protecting a barricade. Isn't this was what happened in Bersih 3.0?

PaperRoses: The chairperson sounds like a police spokesperson, doesn't he?

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