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Protesters arrested under more serious Section 124
Published:  Aug 1, 2015 7:45 PM
Updated: 12:12 PM

Police are investigating the 29 people arrested in today's foiled #TangkapNajib rally under Section 124 of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Tajudin Md Isa said the protesters would also be probed under Section 143 of the Penal Code for participating in an unlawful assembly.

Section 124 carries a jail term of up to 20 years, while Section 143 is punishable with six months jail, a fine or both.

The use of Section 124 is unusual. Police have normally stuck to charging protesters under Section 143, and also the Peaceful Assembly Act.

Besides the protesters, police are also probing The Edge media group's Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat under Section 124 for allegedly using falsified documents in their exposes on 1MDB.

Others being investigated under the same section are former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

In his statement today, Tajudin said the 29 were arrested for taking part in the protest to call for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's arrest.

"Arrests were made in Sogo and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Razak because (they) are believed to have  been invovled in the protest. It is estimated that about 200 people were involved in the protest," he said.

Charges levied against them absurd

When contacted, Lawyers for Liberty  co-founder Eric Paulsen ( photo ) said the charges levied against the protesters were absurd.

"The arrests are politically motivated as all Malaysians have a right to peaceful assembly. It is a serious exaggeration to claim that their activities were unlawful assembly or worse, detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

"Peaceful assembly is part and parcel of parliamentary democracy. It is absurd for the authorities to turn around to claim that seeking accountability from the prime minister and government ammounts to criminal offences," he told Malaysiakini .

The arrests began even before the rally started, and shouts of 'Tangkap Najib' (detain Najib) only began after the first two arrests were made.

There were hundreds of people in the area at the time when the crackdown took place, but it was difficult to know who were shoppers in the busy shopping district, and who were protesters.

Up  to 200 police officers were deployed to the area during the crackdown, which saw Sogo Shopping Mall and neighbouring shops closed for almost two hours.

 

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