Around 50 residents from Ladang Bukit Jalil, including 12 children, gathered in front of the DBKL headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today to protest against DBKL’s decision to evict them from their homes next Tuesday.

The residents gathered at 11.20 this morning, carrying banners and chanting several slogans, urging Kuala Lumpur Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail to step out of his office and resolve the issue immediately.

NONE “The residents are tired of waiting and demand to hear and see the mayor. He has told us that he would come and meet the penduduk , but until now he has not shown up,” said N Surendren ( centre in picture ), one of the lawyers representing the residents.

After waiting for over two hours and there was still no sign of Ahmad Fuad, the residents started to make their way forcefully towards the DBKL headquarters lobby, causing 14 police officers from the Dang Wangi station to step in.

Six female residents and a child managed to slip through the guarded entrance.

Once they were inside, Malaysiakini observed the six ladies and the child chanting for the mayor to come down and they started to sit on the floor of the lobby, ignoring DBKL authorities and police personnel.

They chanted, “ Datuk bandar penipu, turun, turun datuk bandar ” (Mayor a liar, come down) and “ Jangan, jangan, usir kami ” (Do not evict us).

NONE Also present was Party Socialist Malaysia secretary-general S Arutchelvan, Subang MP R Sivarasa, and representatives from Suaram, Jerit, Food not Bombs and several other groups.

At 1.45pm, Md Aznan Mat Zin ( left in picture ), an aide to Ahmad Fuad, told the residents and lawyers that the mayor would not be able to meet them because he has other meetings to attend.

NONE “How can he do this to the people and just ignore them? Even the elderly people are here today to at least get some answers. He is irresponsible towards the people and his position as a mayor,” said lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri.

Malaysiakini also understood that while the exchange of words between aide and the lawyers was happening inside the DBKL building, a boy was allegedly hurt by one of the DBKL officers outside.

R Prasanth, 14 ( right ), claimed he was shoved by one of the DBKL officers, and the left part of his chest was injured.

NONE The DBKL officer, Mohd Salleh ( left ), when confronted by police officers and members of several NGOs, said he was just raising his hands to make sure that the crowd would not barge into the lobby of DBKL and did not mean to injure Prasanth.

“I only raised my hands so that the crowd would not barge in. I might have accidentally pushed him (Prasanth), but I did not do it on purpose,” he said.

According to S Thiakarajan, one of the Ladang Bukit Jalil committee members, Prasanth will lodge a police report against the DBKL officer later today.

Another Ladang Bukit Jalil resident, L Vijaya Letchaumy, 41 claimed she was pushed and punched by two DBKL officers.

“All I did was chant ‘ Keluar, keluar, datuk bandar ’. Suddenly the two officers came. One pushed me and told me to diam (keep quiet), and the other punched my right shoulder.

NONE “How can they hit a woman and when they are holding a position of authority?” Vijaya ( left ) said, adding that she will be lodging a police report against the two officers at Dang Wang police headquarters.

Meanwhile, Fadiah Nadwa said that they would wait and see what would be the response from Ahmad Fuad regarding the eviction within the next three days.

“If there is no answer and on Tuesday, they (DBKL) come to demolish the place, we will be standing tall. We will fight to the end, we will not move!” Fadiah Nadwa said.

Apart from the presence of lawyers representing the residents, Fadiah Nadwa added that she is more than confident that more NGOs and concerned people would turn up at Ladang Bukit Jalil to show their support against the eviction and DBKL’s harshness towards the residents.

VIDEO | 4.21 mins