Tear gas, if fired in the enclosed spaces between KLCC and Avenue K shopping mall, may pose a health risk, admitted a police anti-riot unit commander.

"In the enclosed spaces between the buildings, if tear gas is fired, can the density of the gas cause (health) issues?" asked Chan Chew Weng, lawyer for the family of taxi driver Baharuddin Ahmad, at the inquest into Baharuddin's death during last year's Bersih 2.0 electoral reform rally.

Inspector Mohd Alamshah Abdullah agreed with Chan's proposition in the hearing before coroner Zulkpli Abdullah on the third day of the inquest, convened in a Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court today.

Alamshah commanded the Public Order Riot Unit (Poru) 38 that dispersed the rally participants in front of Avenue K, the building where the taxi driver was found collapsed and was unconscious in.

However, Alamshah insisted that the 49 men of Poru 38, drawn from the Eighth Battalion of the General Operations Force based in Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, never took any aggressive action, charged nor fired any tear gas in the area.

"We took no action and only advanced forward, as they (the crowd) dispersed on their own.

"I am confident that none of my men took any action without my order, as I was monitoring them from the top of the command vehicle," the inspector added.

Health effects on older persons

He explained that his men were deployed before him and he monitors them at all times, adding that by training, they can only take any action by his order alone.

Alamshah also maintained that the effects of the tear gas on normal persons are not particularly health threatening, recounting how he and his men exposed themselves to the incapacitating effects of the riot-control agent during training, relating that exposure resulted in only temporary effects of difficulty to breathe, coughing and teary eyes.

However, when pressed by Chan that the effects may be different when older men in their fifties like Baharuddin are exposed to the same chemical agent, as opposed to healthy and fit police officers, the Poru commander admitted that it is possible.

Alamshah, the ninth witness to appear before the inquiry was then dismissed and the inquest broke for lunch.

When the coroner's court reconvened, Avenue K staff Silahuddin Salleh, 45, was called as the tenth inquest witness.

Silahuddin related what he saw at the mall's entrance and the situation outside on July 9, when Baharuddoin was found unconscious during the Bersih 2.0 rally.

Rushed into shopping mall

He noted how he saw Baharuddin slumped down with his legs outstretched on the floor in front of the mall's main entrance after running into the building with nearly 70 others.

Silahuddin was inspecting Avenue K's electrical fixtures when he saw the crowd running towards the building, scared by what was happening he ran into the mall and proceeded to close the roller shutters sealing the main entrance.

But some of the protestors jammed the shutter and slipped in. Baharuddin was among these, he claimed.

Silahuddin then related how he observed passers by trying to help Baharuddin whom he saw to be pale, unresponsive and was sweating profusely as his shirt was wet.

He also saw how a woman then called the ambulance, observing the arrival of paramedics who administered aid to the taxi driver then drove him away to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Paramedics to be called tomorrow

When questioned by the DPPs, family lawyers and later the coroner himself, Silahuddin denied seeing the police charging at the protestors or firing any tear gas.

He also said that he did not see, smelled nor felt anything in the environs or protestors that may signify the presence of chemical-laced water or tear gas, jokingly adding that the only smell present were the sweat from the running protestors.

After Silahuddin's testimony Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Ishrakh then filed an application for the court to visit the site of the incident so that the witness can show the court what he saw and where.

The coroner agreed and the lawyers representing the family of the deceased did not object.

The court then took a short break before reconvening at Avenue K where Silahuddin walked them through his testimony again.

The court stood down after the site visit to reconvene tomorrow morning at 10am when the paramedics who treated Baharuddin are scheduled to be called before the inquest.

Police are claiming that Baharuddin's collapse was due to a heart attack, though family members and his fellow Bersih 2.0 participants are less sure.