Human rights group Aliran today warned about the possible presence of agents provocateur at tomorrow's "Black 14" gathering at the National Mosque.

"If experience is any guide, such provocateurs will be out to trigger violence or resort to acts of vandalism to tarnish the image of peaceful demonstrators," Aliran committee member Anil Netto said in a press statement faxed to malaysiakini this evening.

He added that this is a standard and shameful tactic often used in many countries to disrupt peaceful demonstrations and provide a pretext for police to move in and resort to high-handed methods to disperse demonstrators.

Netto also called for the immediate release of all those arrested today in connection with tomorrow's gathering.

Malaysiakini learnt that by about 5pm, three KeADILan leaders - information chief Ruslan Kassim and youth chief Mohamed Ezam Mohd Nor, and exco member N. Gopalan Krishnan, have been detained.([#1] "KeADILan leaders arrested in 'Black 14' crackdown"[/#] , April14).

"The arrests seem to be a pre-emptive strike against those involved in preparations for tomorrow's gathering and the government is once again demonstrating that it will go to any lengths to stifle dissent and crush any opposing views," Netto said.

Aliran also called on the Human Rights Commission to hold an emergency meeting and censure the government for its authoritarian actions.

"It will be a real test as to how independent and credible the new commission is. If it does not act swiftly, the commission will only be confirming the widespread scepticism about its ability to stand up against human rights violations. One hopes it will rise to the occasion and prove the cynics wrong," Netto added.

The People's Manifesto Initiative has also called on the commission to act in response to the arrests.

"We want the chairperson of the commission to know that we look to it to remain neutral. This is crucial to the credibility of the commission both in the eyes of the Malaysian public as well as the international community," its spokesperson Irene Xavier said today.

Yesterday, Xavier also called on the commission to send its members to the gathering tomorrow to monitor the situation and record any violations of human rights at the scene ([#2] "'Black 14' an acid test for rights commission"[/#] , April 13).

Another human rights group Hakam has also urged the commission to quickly advise the authorities to promote and protect basic liberties in the country.

"The detention of Ruslan and Ezam earlier today is arbitrary and unjust, especially since both these leaders are not known to be violent," Hakam deputy president Yang Pei Keng said.

Meanwhile, attempts to reach Musa Hitam, the commission chairman, for comments were unsuccessful. A staff in his office when contacted said that he (Musa) would not make any public statements before the commission's first meeting to be held on April 24.

Other members of the commission, also refused to comment. When contacted, they asked malaysiakini to refer to Musa..

The crackdown on the organisers of 'Black 14', an event to mark the first anniversary of the sentencing of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has outraged the opposition.

PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali also said that those arrested have not done anything wrong as there are no illegal protests and unrest in the country.

"They have only planned a peaceful gathering which is allowed by the constitution. I feel that the police and prime minister himself have over-reacted to create an atmosphere of fear and instability for their own purpose," he told malaysiakini this evening.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said that the government should give room to peaceful social protests, as long as the organisers kept it within the law and order.

"The prime minister has been praising the World Trade Organisation demonstrations in Seattle because of the significant role played by protests to bring about a new thinking," he said.

Lim called on the police to respect the democratic right of the people and said that the ground for the preventive detention was another form of the Internal Security Act abuses.

"The organisers have said that the gathering would be peaceful and completely avoid any possibility of a breach of law and order. The authorities should therefore give them the benefit of the doubt," he added.