Several Barisan Nasional (BN) component party leaders got paparazzi treatment as they were bombarded for comments by more than a 100 reporters and photographers at the Umno general assembly.

The leaders were leaving the Dewan Merdeka in Putra World Trade Centre at noon - where Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had just opened the delegates conference at the Umno general assembly - when they were suddenly surrounded by a horde of reporters.

Pandemonium broke out as reporters started jostling for interviews with the leaders of the ruling Barisan Nasional component parties who were attacked in speeches by Umno Youth delegates yesterday.

As the sea of bodies swayed back and forth, loud cries of 'Stop pushing' and sporadic shouts of pain were heard.

The reporters' desperate attempts were to seek reactions to the scathing attacks by the Youth delegates yesterday who named several BN personalities as having been openly 'rude' ( kurang ajar ) to Abdullah.

Back to the wall

MCA president Ong Ka Ting ( right ) literally had his back to the wall as about two dozen journalists, photographers and television crew encircled him.

Meanwhile, Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik ( above ) appeared shocked as reporters lunged towards him when he appeared in a corridor outside the main hall.

His deputy, Dr Koh Tsu Koon ( below ), who is also Penang chief minister, got a similar reception. His decision to leave the corridor for an open area nearly resulted in a stampede.

In the midst of jostling and shoving, security personnel shouted for calm.

When they were ignored, the security personnel began pulling and pushing the reporters away, causing some to almost lose their balance.

A senior journalist told malaysiakini that such a scene was unprecedented.

According to Bernama , a total of 1,305 journalists from both local and international media organisations are covering this year's Umno general assembly.