Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has denied that the suspects behind the attack on the "Nothing to Hide 2" event in Shah Alam yesterday were Bersatu members.

Citing the police, which said that the suspects arrested yesterday were aged between 17 and 19, Syed Saddiq pointed out how the party has an age requirement for members.

"We have also checked their memberships with Bersatu. They are definitely not Bersatu members.

"They are only teenagers who were paid to masquerade as Bersatu members using Bersatu Youth T-shirts," he said, adding that the T-shirts worn were not even the party's Youth wing's official version.

"The question is, if they are not Bersatu members, who was the one who used them to hurt (former prime minister Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad)?"

Yesterday, Syed Saddiq said the T-shirts were distributed for free among alleged agent provocateurs prior to the event.

He said that the intent was for them to slip into the function, organised by Bersatu Youth, and cause harm to party chairperson Mahathir.

The event, which started at 3pm, descended into chaos at around 5.30pm when Mahathir was addressing the crowd.

When Mahathir was responding to a question about the 1985 Memali tragedy in Baling, slippers were hurled in his direction.

This was followed by several other objects, including bottles, chairs and flares.

However, none of the items landed on Mahathir as security personnel rushed to protect him.

Sporadic fighting then ensued as Bersatu supporters attempted to confront the suspected provocateurs, which eventually spilled out of the hall.

Meanwhile, citing videos of the incident yesterday, Umno Youth exco Armand Azha Abu Hanifah claimed that the shoes and bottles hurled were done by Bersatu members themselves.

The situation, he said, became heated after a question on the Memali tragedy was posed to Mahathir.

"The ones who started it were Bersatu Youth members, not Fariz Hadi. Kudos to Fariz for asking questions," he said.

Fariz was one of the participants at the event yesterday. In a Facebook post today, he admitted that he is an Umno member.

He, however, said he had left the venue after being disappointed by the answer to his question.

"A friend called me saying that there was chaos. But I said I didn't know anything as I had already left," he said.