Animal rights NGOs who were invited to a meeting with the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) were in shock after being allegedly threatened with physical violence 10 minutes into the meeting.

The incident started when five NGO representatives at the meeting were met with hostilities from both MPS and resident committee representatives.

Two NGO leaders, lawyer N Surendran and wheelchair-bound activist Anthony Thanasayan ( right), have lodged separate reports on the incident at the Sentul district police headquarters today.

The duo were among five individuals representing four NGOs during the meeting to discuss the controversial dog-catching competition organised by MPS.

In Anthony's police report, he said several MPS and resident committee representatives began hurling abuses at the NGO delegation, prompting all except for one NGO leader to leave the room.

Woman, disabled not spared

At this juncture, one resident committee representative known only as Rashid, allegedly lunged at Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Association (Roar) president N Surendran with Anthony caught in the middle.

"I'm on a wheelchair. I can't run. I cannot protect myself. I was very scared," said Anthony, who runs Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive).

Surendran said that although he was unhurt in the incident, he was certain that he would have been assaulted by Rashid had the latter not been restrained by others.

The two, said Rashid, had followed the group to the lobby of the MPS headquarters and that the latter's antics didn't stop there.

Animal lover Lim Ann Nee ( right ), who was taking video footage of the scene at the lobby was allegedly hit on one arm several times with a booklet by Rashid. [see video]

"I told him at least seven times 'Don't touch me!'. But he was chasing us away," she said.

'Heated argument'

Human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar who attended the press conference questioned the motive of MPS inviting resident committee representatives to the meet.

"The meeting was only to involve animal lovers and the MPS. Why were outsiders brought in? Were they brought in to neutralise the animal lovers?" he asked.

Similarly, Surendran said from the scenario, he can conclude that the alleged intimidation was a "planned attempt" at silencing the NGOs.

Chairperson of the meeting and Rawang state assemblyperson Tang See Han denied that anyone was assaulted during the meeting.

"(But) there was a heated argument," Tang conceded, when contacted.

The meeting however continued after the minor scuffle as Society for the Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals (SPCA) chairperson Christine Chin did not leave the meeting.

MPS decided during the meeting that the dog-catching competition would be scrapped and replaced with a long-term campaign in collaboration with SPCA.

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