There were no elements of violence during the May 28 petrol and electricity hike demonstration outside the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), according to a Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) officer today.

Chief Inspector Pusparajan Kaliapan, 40, said Dang Wangi district police chief Kamal Jamal Pasha had given him the orders to disperse the crowd peacefully.

"I dispersed them using the water cannon, no forceful action such as body contact (was used on the crowd) and we did not use batons as well," he testified at the ' Bloody Sunday ' public inquiry held by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) on the incident.

According to Pusparajan, only minimum force was used, which was using the water cannon truck to spray water on the crowd in order to disperse them.

Quizzed by the panel of commissioners on the shields and batons wielded by FRU members, he explained that the shields were for their own protection while the batons are used only when the crowd turned violent.

"What I mean by violence here are actions such as throwing stones and shouting threats but none of these happened in the demonstration," he said during the question-and-answer session.

Pusparajan reiterated that he was only carrying out the orders issued by Kamal and that the FRU personnel were there to assist the district police chief.

He pointed out that the orders from Kamal were to disperse the crowd peacefully.

"Although there were those (among the crowd) who were shouting, there were no threats, and no throwing of stones or water bottles," he said.

Asked about the injuries sustained by Amran Zulkifli, 38, who was allegedly beaten by the police, Pusparajan said he never saw him among the crowd and was shocked to learn that the FRU were blamed for his injuries.

Five stitches

Meanwhile, Amran who testified earlier, claimed that he was beaten on the head, shoulder and arms by FRU personnel who pounced on him suddenly as he was moving away from the crowd with his 10-year-old son.

The businessman, who hails from Sungai Petani, Kedah, said he and his son were walking into the KLCC shopping complex but were caught between the FRU personnel and the crowd.

"First, they (FRU) attacked me from the back and continued to hit me at the top right shoulder corner and lastly they hit my head," he said, adding that he did not know how to resist the painful blows.

"I had received at least five stitches to my head," he added.

The inquiry will resume next Monday and shall proceed with the statements given by police officers.

Yesterday, Zahir Hassan, a trained engineer turned Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy secretary-general, had told the inquiry that he was kicked and pushed to the ground by a team of FRU officers [ photos below ].

The panel of Suhakam commissioners comprise chair KC Vohrah, Choo Siew Kioh, Zaitoon Othman and Michael Yeoh Onn Kheng.

'Bloody Sunday' photo gallery