Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has lambasted inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar for describing the anti-GST activists who laid siege on the Customs Department office as barbaric.

   

"We peacefully walked into the office directly to the information counter. But unfortunately it was the police who behaved barbarically, pulled and shoved many of us in an attempt to arrest us," said PSM treasurer A Sivarajan.

"The doors of the information counter was closed on purpose and the Light Strike Force was called in to guard the entrance.

"What is the point of having a public information counter when it is locked and guarded by riot police with shields and batons. Who acted unreasonable and barbaric here, the police or us?" he added in a statement.

Sivarajan argued that it was wrong to accuse them of being uncivilised when the activists negotiated peacefully with the Petaling Jaya district police chief.

He reiterated that it was the police who resorted to high-handed actions.

"The police acted barbarically by arresting us. Most of us were handcuffed and then punched and kicked before we were thrown into the police trucks.

"It was unnecessary for such high-handed tactics by the police as we were not resisting arrest," he added.

Trespassing government property?

In view of this, Sivarajan told Khalid not to distort the facts regarding the arrest.

PSM was also puzzled by the police chief's accusation that the activists were trespassing into a government building, pointing out that they were at the GST public information counter on the ground floor.

"Does it mean all citizens visiting the public information counter are trespassers?

"Do we have to get prior entry permit from the Customs Department and probably the police to get our queries answered at an information counter which is supposed to give information to the public in the first place," questioned Sivaranjan.

More than 100 activists stormed the Customs Department office in Kelana Jaya with 106 questions concerning the new tax, which is to come into effect on April 1.

Following a stand-off which lasted several hours, the police arrested more than 80 activists.