A journalist lodged a police report against Dang Wangi district police chief Bakri Zinin for allegedly threatening her with arrest during the recent May Day celebrations in Kuala Lumpur.

Sonia Randhawa of radiqradio.com said she lodged the report at the Dang Wangi police station last Friday against Bakri as he had allegedly "verbally abused" and "threatened arrest" against her for being present at the scene of a peaceful May Day march.

About 150 people had turned up for the celebrations that was to start with a walk from Chow Kit Road, ending at Kuala Lumpur City Centre where some 1,500 people were expected to participate in various activities. However, the event was aborted when police unexpectedly charged at the crowd and made several arrests.

According to Randhawa, she was observing the walk in her capacity as a reporter when she was first approached by Bakri who began "shouting" at her.

"It appeared he had ordered the media away from the scene. As I had not been with the other reporters, I was unaware of the order. He was verbally abusive at this time," she said in the police report, which was made available to malaysiakini today.

Randhawa said she met Bakri again at KLCC where she was trying to ascertain the identities of several persons who had been arrested and held in police trucks at the scene.

"Bakri met me again. He was immediately verbally abusive towards me, and threatened me with arrest. He then repeated that if he saw me again, he would arrest me," she said, adding that the threats had affected her ability to carry out her job as a reporter satisfactorily.

No space for negotiations

Meanwhile, another May Day participant, Community Development Centre member Simon Karunagaram, said he too lodged a police report against Bakri for being "aggressive in dispersing the crowd".

"The police did not give any space for negotiations and there was no proper warning given to participants," said Karunagaram when contacted today.

During the May Day celebrations, a total of 17 people were arrested for 'illegal assembly' for taking part in the walk but they were released the following day.

In a related development, Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvam, who was among those arrested, said a total of 12 reports have been lodged to date against Bakri for allegedly 'manhandling' participants during the peace walk.

According to Arutchelvam, the police had justified their actions against participants by saying that the crowd, largely made up of estate workers in Selangor and Perak, was unruly and that their participation was pre-planned by several non-governmental organisations.

"We have asked the police to prove that they were called by the NGOs and show at least one photograph of the crowd being unruly. To date, they have not shown us any proof," he told malaysiakini .

Arutchelvam added that the bail period for the 17 individuals will be expiring on May 16. However, it is uncertain if the police intend to press any formal charges against them.

Among those arrested with Arutchelvam were Parti Sosialis Malaysia pro-tem president Dr Nasir Mohd Hashim, vice-president Dr D Jeyakumar, Community Development Centre members V Selvam 41, and Sevan Doraisamy, 24.

Contacted today, Bakri refused to comment on the reports lodged against him, saying that he is an interested party in the matter.