30 reports lodged against police officer for May Day mayhem

comments     Susan Loone     Published     Updated

Thirty reports have been lodged in several states against Officer In Charge of Police District Bakri Zinin for breaking up a peaceful May Day celebration and allegedly 'manhandling' participants.

This included 12 reports from last week, one of which was lodged by a journalist who was covering the occasion in Kuala Lumpur.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia pro tem central committee member Dr D Jeyakumar said the participants — mostly estate workers from various states — lodged a report in their own towns, among which are Sungai Siput in Perak, Kajang and Klang in Selangor, Semenyih and Dengkil in Negeri Sembilan and Johor Bahru.

The reports also challenged Bakri's claim that participants had been 'tricked' into attending the event and that they had attacked the police, Jeyakumar added.

According to Jeyakumar, the complainants felt the police action of arresting 17 participants for 'illegal assembly' was unfair as May Day had been celebrated previously without a police permit.

"They (police) pounced on us when they should meet and dialogue with the organisers before taking any action," he told malaysiakini .

"They should be able to balance the need for security and providing democratic space for the people," he added.

The police could not be reached for comment today.

17 arrested

On May 1, about 150 people had turned up in the capital city for a celebration that was to start with a walk from Chow Kit Road and ending at Kuala Lumpur City Centre where some 1,500 people had been expected to gather to participate in various activities.

The event was aborted when police unexpectedly charged at the crowd during the peace walk and arrested 17 people who then had to spend a night in jail.

Among them were PSM pro tem president Dr Nasir Mohd Hashim and central committee member V Selvam, Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvam, Community Development Centre member Sevan Doraisamy, and two women social activists Lee Siew Hwa and R Manoharani.

The bail for the 17 will be expiring this Thursday. It is uncertain if the police intend to press any formal charges against them.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In