PKR has slammed the police for abusing the law to probe leaders over what it says has proven to be peaceful assemblies including the massive Kita Lawan rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

 

Yesterday, PKR Kelana Jaya division chief Saifullah Zulkifli was picked up by the police at 7.45pm after the 10,000 strong rally that ended at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre had dispersed without incident.

Today PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was detained after reporting at Dang Wangi police station to give his statement regarding yesterday's rally.

 

PKR Padang Serai MP N Surendran said the police had no cause to take action against Saifullah and other PKR leaders as yesterday and earlier rallies had not resulted in any violence.

 

“Under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA), police cannot take action against the participants of a peaceful assembly.

 

“Since the decision of the Court of Appeal in Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad's case, the previous 10-day notice requirement to police is also no longer necessary.

”But now the police are twisting the law by resorting to inappropriate provisions of the Penal Code such as section 143 to arrest and investigate participants.

 

“Section 143 is only applicable to public assemblies with a violent or criminal motive,” said Surendran in a statement this morning.

"The rallies have been entirely peaceful with no cause given for police interference.

"Despite this, police continue to harass the organisers and participants by subjecting them to baseless and unlawful investigations, and in some cases arrests," he added.

'Abusing section 143'

Surendran said the use of section 143 was "against the spirit" of the PAA and the landmark court of appeal decision in Nik Nazmi's case that upheld the rakyat's right to peacefully gather.

"The home minister and government must take full responsibility for this abuse of the law by the police in order to criminalise peaceful assemblies," said the lawmaker.

The Home Ministry and police, he said, are showing "gross disrespect" towards the law and the federal constitution in continuing with their "baseless investigations" into the rallies.

 

Apart from Saifullah and Nik Nazmi, party vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar ( right ), daughter of jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, has also been called in for questioning over a Kita Lawan rally in February.

 

Yesterday’s rally was a culmination in a series of nationwide protests to call for Anwar to be freed.

 

The opposition leader is serving his five-year sentence after being convicted in the long-drawn Sodomy II case, and his freedom now hangs on a petition for pardon submitted to the agong.