Video recordings of the Coalition For Clean and Fair Election (Bersih) rally on July 9 last year show participants gathered at KL Sentral backing away from  the police, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission was told today.

puravalen pc on missing pi balasubramaniam 180708 m puravalen Lawyer M Puravalen, ( right ) representing chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan, pointed this out from two video recordings from Internet portals Free Malaysia Today (FMT) and MobTV .

Going through the sequence of events that took place at the transportation hub's underpass, Puravalen screened FMT's 14.44 minute- video.

He said the participants had stopped marching upon spotting the riot squad led by Brickfields district police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid at the exit leading to Jalan Tun Sambanthan.

"At the 6.25 minute, you can see that they are turning their backs to the police and backing away.

Gas attack on retreating backs

"At 6.31 minute, the riot police are being instructed to lower their tear gas launchers," he said.

Moments later the police launch the 12 rounds of tear gas canisters at the "retreating" crowd.

NONE "Was there any immediate threat of violence that necessitated use of such lethal force?" posed Puravalen, pointing out that other means to dispersing the crowd prior to firing the tear gas should be the threshold criteria.

Wan Abdul Bari, who testified on Jan 11, had said that the supporters, led by PKR Batu MP Tian Chua, had linked hands and that someone shouted "1, 2, 3".

"They looked like they were getting ready to charge at us... I reacted after I heard them counting," he had said.

Ambiga, who resumed her testimony from Jan 18 was referred to the 22.44- minute of a recording from MobTV, which had captured her arrest at the underpass.

Recounting the experience Ambiga reiterated to the inquiry panel that the supporters despite being "upbeat, remained calm and peaceful" throughout.

"No sign of violence or aggression from the crowd... they responded well to police instruction to withdraw," she said.

ASP S Shanmugam, holding the watching brief for the police, asked Ambiga if use of weapons on rally participants could be justified, to which her reply was:

"I'm aware that they have the power, but they can't abuse it."

NONE Ambiga ( right ) was one of the 91 individuals listed in a restriction order banned from entering Kuala Lumpur.

Accompanied by top Pakatan Rakyat leaders, she and the rest of the Bersih supporters had arrived at the KL Sentral underpass hub, to march to Stadium Merdeka via Jalan Tun Sambathan.

Subsequently, 1,667 of them were arrested for "disturbing the peace" and taking part in an "illegal gathering".

The upcoming April 28 protest - the third by Bersih - was decided upon after the coalition found that the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform had failed to act on key problems it had raised, including a complete overhaul of the electoral system.

The PSC was formed in response to last year's Bersih 2.0 rally.

Today's inquiry was led by Suhakam vice-chairperson Khaw Lake Tee, and commissioner Detta Seman.

Today was supposed to have been the last day of inquiry, however with the submission of several pieces evidence earlier this week, Khaw said he intended to recall Wan Abdul Bari at the next available date before the panel concludes its report.

VIDEO: 22:14

VIDEO: 14:44