Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim kept silent today when asked about the two-day detention of six minors following  the May Day anti-goods and services tax rally in the capital.

“We'll leave it to the relevant authorities,” Rohani told reporters at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The Social Welfare Department's child division director Arfan Sulaiman, who was also present,  responded likewise.

“We'll leave it to the relevant authorties, that is the police,” Arfan told reporters.

The six minors, believed to be 17 years old, were detained with 23 others, who were released today, not long after last Friday's anti-GST rally in front of Kuala Lumpur City Centre ended.

Lawyer Michelle Yesudas told Malaysiakini the minors were handcuffed and chained when they were brought to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters.

“They (police) didn't want to remove the handcuffs, even when we informed them that the boys were minors,” Michelle said when contacted.

She said they were only uncuffed when lawyers were finally allowed to meet the minors at 1am, almost seven hours after their initial arrest.

Smoke bombs seized

Besides being handcuffed, police did not hold a closed court when seeking remand for the minors, nor was the Social Welfare Department informed that they were being remanded.

“The court should have been a closed one when there were minors and the department should have been alerted. None of this were complied with,” Michelle said.

The minors were detained for one day and released on Sunday.

They were investigated along with 23 others under Section 143 of the Penal Code for unlawful assembly as well as Section 4 of the Corrosives, Explosives and Dangerous Weapons Act.

Police had also seized several smoke bombs when arresting the 29.

Besides them, seven politicians and activists, including former Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, were also detained by police over the protest rally.

They are being investigated under Section 143 of the Penal Code as well as under the the Sedition Act.

Only one person, Zakaria Jambri, 30, currently remains under police detention over the protest.

Zakaria was remanded for an additional three days today, and is being probed under Section 148 of the Penal Code for possessing weapons or missiles at a riot, and Section 4 of the Corrosives, Explosives and Dangerous Weapons Act.

His lawyer, G Sivamalar, told Malaysiakini that police had found firecrackers after searching Zakaria’s house.

Zakaria was arrested separately on Friday, and lawyers only found out about him yesterday as police did not notify anyone of his arrest.