For the second straight night the Brickfields police have arrested people who had gathered to show support for activist Wong Chin Huat who was arrested under the Sedition Act on Wednesday.


 And just like last night, 14 people were arrested again today for allegedly participating in an illegal assembly. And about two hours later, six others were also taken in, including lawyers who had come to assist those arrested earlier.


 The first group of people arrested was part of about 20 people who had gathered at the police station at about 8.50pm.


 They had marched towards the police station, holding candles, from a fastfood outlet located about 150 metres away.


 Once they reached the entrance of the police station, a police officer approached them and instructed them to disperse. The small crowd refused and continued to hold the candlelight vigil.


 <img align="left" alt="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 02" height="222" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/181/6f77e327a630cc20df73faeec0fc7b4f.jpg" title="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 02" width="297"/>
 At about 9.25pm, Brickfields district police chief Wan Bari Wan Abdul Khalid came out and started shouting at the crowd. He warned them to disperse twice.


 Fourteen of them were then arrested after failing to disperse.


 The 14 - nine men and five women - included PKR Youth movement exco member Ginnie Lim, KLSCAH Youth chief Ng Chong Soon, journalist The Yi Keong, PKR party worker Chua Yee Ling and several student activists.


 They were taken to the Brickfields police station. Lim is believed to have been handcuffed and is waiting for her statement to be taken.


 Last night, the police also arrested
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/103760" target="_blank">
 
 14 people
 
 </a>
 for alleged illegal gathering after they had similarly gathered to show support for Wong.


 They were released some hours later after their particulars were taken by the police.


 The group of people had gathered to show support for Wong, an activist from polls reform group Bersih, who was
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/103676" target="_blank">
 
 arrested
 
 </a>
 to be investigated under the Sedition Act.


 
 
 Lawyers denied access to detainees
 
 


 Wong was taken into custody for calling the public to wear black today to protest the &lsquo;death of democracy' in his home state. He has been remanded until tomorrow.


 Soon after the 14 were arrested, a team of lawyers arrived at the police station to help the detainees.


 <img align="right" alt="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 01" height="207" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/181/09ec1e60e98cefdb75e6cedd46010564.jpg" title="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 01" width="275"/>
 However, lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said the police had denied them access to those arrested.


 She also said that police chief Bari was at a meeting and was unable to meet them.


 Fadiah further said she had received an SMS from Lim that she was being locked up in a storeroom, and have not had a statement taken from her yet.


 "I got her SMS saying she is locked in a storeroom and not feeling too comfortable," she added.


 
 
 
 By 11.15, those arrested were still denied their rights to see their lawyers. They started shouting &lsquo;We want lawyer' and broke into rendering the national anthem.


 About 20 people had gathered outside the police station to show support for those arrested. They were being monitored by six policemen in two patrol cars.


 <img align="left" alt="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 eli wong" height="217" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/181/3e7ae236822c1309be057af8ca4413e0.jpg" title="vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 070509 eli wong" width="280"/>
 Also among the crowd was Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong (
 
 left
 
 ), whose two staff were among those nabbed.


 
 
 
 And while waiting for those arrested to be released, this small group of people managed to catch a glimpse of Wong who was brought in a police car to the Brickfields police station at about 11pm.


 It is learnt that Wong was on his way back from the hospital after seeking treatment for diarrhoea which he was suffering from since last night. The crowd cheered when they saw him.


 
 
 
 The crowd also joined in to sing Negaraku with the arrested 14 and were waiting eagerly for them to be released.


 
 
 Five lawyers arrested too
 
 




 However, the situation took a bad turn at about 11.45pm when the police started a second wave of arrests by taking in six people, which included five lawyers.


 The other person arrested was
 
 Suara Keadilan
 
 Chinese version editor Law Teck Hao. Law was also one of those arrested last night.


 
 
 
 The arrested lawyers were Fadiah, Syuhaini Safwan, Puspawati Rosman, Ravinder Singh and Murnie Hidayah Anuar. They are all from the Bar Council's legal aid centre.


 All six were arrested for illegal gathering.


 At 1am, Bar Council chairperson Ragunath Kesavan arrived along with lawyers M Puravelan, Amer Hamzah Arshad and Richard Wee. However, their attempts to see their detained colleague were unsuccessful.


 Ragunath eventually lodged a report against the police for denying them access to those arrested.


 The crowd outside the police station soon grew to about 30 people, many of whom are lawyers who were expressing concern for their colleagues.


 Batu parliamentarian Tian Chua, who himself was arrested earlier today in Ipoh and released at about 10pm, also rushed to the police station to show his support of those detained.


 
 
 Arrests in Kuching too
 
 




 Meanwhile in Kuching, Sarawak,
 
 
 Joseph Tawie
 
 
 reports that Padungan state assemblyperson Dominique Ng was arrested together with 10 PKR members, which included his wife, Lim Phang Lian.


 Edil Rahmat, head of state PKR Youth movement and famous blogger Lina Soo were also arrested for taking part in an illegal assembly at the Kuching Waterfront when they lighted candles to observe a vigil for democracy in Perak.


 All of them were wearing black T-shirts.


 Earlier at around 7.30pm, the police have closed all roads leading to the Kuching Waterfront to stop PKR members from holding the candlelight vigil to support their colleagues in Perak.


 But Ng, in SMSes to all his friends, warned that participants should be prepared to walk to the Kuching Waterfront.


 Ng, who is also the chairperson of the PKR division in Kuching, said: "I have never seen so many police personnel doing their duties to arrest the most dangerous &lsquo;terrorists'."


 As of 11pm, they were still at the Kuching Central police station.

updated 3.15am
 

Just like last night, the Brickfields police have arrested 20 people who had gathered to show support for Bersih's Chin Huat. Five lawyers who came to help were nabbed too.

Vigil: Another 20 arrested, including 5 lawyers

~RM12

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