The police were solely responsible for human rights violations at the aborted 100,000 People's Gathering at Jalan Kebun in Klang last year, according to a scathing report released today by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).

"The violations occurred due to the 'total denial and domination' action of the police during crowd dispersal action, the arrests of persons at the scene and the treatment of the arrested persons while in detention," said the commission.

Suhakam also added it was possible that the police had orchestrated an assault on a police officer to turn an otherwise peaceful gathering into a violent one.

These are the findings of the commission's three-member inquiry panel into the allegations of police brutality during the Nov 5 gathering organised by Keadilan. There was a massive police crackdown against the protestors along the Kesas Highway.

The panel, consisting of Anuar Zainal Abidin, Simon Sipaun and Mehrun Siraj, said that its findings were based on weight of evidence adduced at the inquiry, the demeanour of the witnesses and the manner in which they answered the questions.

The panel released its findings today following an almost four-month inquiry which saw a total of 30 members of the public and 16 police personnel giving evidence.

The commission also noted that many police witnesses gave prepared testimonies and were unwilling to answer impromptu questions from the panel.

According to the report, one police officer had contradicted himself, while most stated that answers would be provided by the next witness.

"The next witness would come well prepared to answer the questions that had been put earlier but would not answer any new questions," the commissioners lamented.

The panel said that due to this it had to include in its decision some facts that were not presented at the inquiry.

Legal gathering

The panel also said that while it accepted police evidence that some members of the crowd had thrown stones and sticks at the police, it noted that the crowd's behaviour was a reaction to earlier police brutality, excessive use of tear gas and the use of water cannon.

The panel also concluded that the police was wrong in moving to stop the rally on the grounds that it was illegal due to non-issuance of a permit.

"The question of applying for a licence for the proposed rally does not arise as the proposed premise for the rally was a private property and not a public place," said the panel.

It added that if the rally been allowed to take place at Bukit Jalil stadium as intended earlier, with police exercising traffic and crowd control, no untoward incident would have occurred.

The organisers were unable to obtain approval from the authorities to hold a rally at the Bukit Jalil stadium and the venue was later changed to a piece of open land belonging to a Keadilan member in Jalan Kebun, Klang.

Double standards

Suhakam also accused the police of practising double standards for allowing a counter-demonstration to take place three days before the Jalan Kebun gathering.

It said on Nov 3 last year, a group of 50 residents from Jalan Kebun staged a demonstration with banners protesting against the proposed rally.

The residents threatened that they would take matters into their own hands if the police failed to stop the rally.

"It appears to the panel that the police were relying on the possible threat of clashes between the residents and those attending the rally to justify stopping the rally," said the report.

According to the commissioners, the police could have taken action against the residents who were threatening to commit an offence.

"The panel strongly recommends that the law relating to assemblies be applied equally and without discrimination," they said.

In order to uphold freedom of assembly, the report added that opposing groups should be allowed to demonstrate "within sight and sound of each other".

"The police should be present to ensure that the demonstration and counter-demonstration are carried out peacefully," it said.

Insufficient warnings

The police were also blamed for creating chaos by setting up road blocks to prevent members of the public from proceeding to Jalan Kebun, thus creating a massive traffic jam on Kesas Highway.

Such actions were found not to have come within the maintenance and preservation of law and order as allowed by Section 26 of the Police Act.

The panel also chided the police for giving insufficient warning and time for the crowd to disperse.

It said that the inquiry was told that only those close to the police heard orders to disperse and that the police moved in almost immediately, using water cannons and tear gas, without giving the crowd the time to disperse.

The panel said that the police had also used excessive force in damaging vehicles as well as chasing people who were trying to disperse, who were then caught and assaulted.

"Force was used to stop persons from attempting to get away from the scene rather than overcoming resistance to the order to disperse as provided by the law. The force used was not reasonably necessary particularly in the case of persons sitting in their cars who were unable to move due to traffic congestion.

"Excessive force was also used on people who had already been arrested and were being taken away to police vehicles."

Direct hit

The panel said that evidence also showed that at least one person was directly hit by a gas cannister which was fired at the crowd.

It added that it also found evidence of tear gas being sprayed into the police truck in which detained people were placed.

"One witness had tear gas sprayed into his eye, causing him to lose sight temporarily. Several others had also suffered injuries and there was a delay in providing treatment to them, in some cases, medication was not given although doctors had prescribed them," added the panel.

The findings also included police abuses in matters pertaining to remands and police bails of the 116 people who were arrested.

In the case of female detainee Norazimah Mohd Nor, who was subjected to a full body search while in custody, the panel noted that asking her to strip and to squat was a degrading treatment.

Norazimah had earlier testified that she was arrested at the premises along Jalan Kebun where she had gone to set up a stall to sell T-shirts, caps and VCDs of ceramah .

She added that she was taken to Kapar police station and put in a cell with eight other women, where she was ordered to strip off all her clothes and do 10 knee squats.

The inquiry panel also observed that the five-day remand period sought by the police was unnecessarily long, stating that those arrested could have been released on police bail and not remanded at all.

Juvenile remanded

The police also came under fire for arresting and remanding for five days a 17-year-old student, Umi Jumaina Mohamad Jan, who was due to sit for her SPM examinations about a week from the day she was detained.

"We are of the view that the magistrate should have made an order to release this girl on police bail immediately, without relying on the police assurance that she would be released soon."

The panel said the police must ensure that remand orders were only obtained when there was a real need to investigate and not to be used for the purpose of collecting security intelligence or of "turning over" detainees.

It also recommended that if persons on police bail were not charged in court within the first month, they should be released unconditionally.

The panel noted that in this case, the police bail was abused where those subsequently released were asked to report to the police station for an indefinite period.

The police were told to review its methods of crowd dispersal by exercising restraint in the use of canes, batons, tear gas and water cannons as well as not to destroy property belonging to the members of the public; nor should they confiscate without justifiable reason.

Police probe urged

The panel finally said that police should conduct their own investigation to determine which of their officials had in fact used force in a manner not permitted by law; this is to prevent a recurrence of the incident.

Early this month, Suhakam had released a ground-breaking report containing a set of recommendations on how the authorities could uphold citizens' right to unrestricted and legal peaceful assemblies.

However, both the government and the police have to date ignored the recommendations.

Instead, police have recently enforced an indefinite ban on political rallies and a number of people have been arrested over the past few weeks for participating in and organising ceramah (political gatherings).