Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan today criticised the arrest of the council’s human rights committee chairperson Edmund Bon, labeling the arrest as "bullying tactics" by the police.

Edmund was arrested this afternoon for allegedly impeding Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers from performing their duty in removing banners outside the Malaysian Bar headquarters.

Ambiga believed that DBKL had "intent to disrupt such an innocent event".

"To me, if you put (banners) up in your own premises then I'd like to see what law it is that they are (invoking) to take it down, particularly when the banners were things like 'No to corruption'," she said at a press conference held after an emergency council meeting.

The banners were placed in place to celebrate the council’s 'Festival of Rights' in conjunction with the International Human Rights Day, which falls tomorrow.

The venue for the festival was relocated from Central Market to the Bar’s own building after police insisted that the Bar apply for a permit.

Ambiga also expressed her shock at the police's action in arresting eight people who participated in a march this morning.

"We called off our walk in good faith and certainly didn't expect this response," she said.

Mulling legal action

On Tuesday, the Bar Council called off its annual march due to pressures from the authorities to obtain a permit.

Nevertheless, a number of lawyers decided to proceed with the march this morning, which garnered a crowd of almost 100.

As a result, eight people, including five lawyers, were arrested for illegal assembly and are being held at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters. They are expected to be charged tomorrow.

The five lawyer arrested are N Surendran, Latheefa Koya, R Sivarasa, Eric Paulsen and Amer Hamzah. The others were activists Anthony Andu, Noor Aza Othman and a bystander named Akhbar Ali Raja.

Ambiga said that the council, which represents strong 13,000 lawyers in Peninsular Malaysia, will write to the inspector general of police to seek clarification. She also did not rule out a legal action against the police.

"It really emphasises what we are trying to say on human rights, why it is so important," she said.

"In my view, this is a sad day for human rights in Malaysia. What should have been a celebration has really turned into a very sad day, unnecessarily so," she added.