PKR: Police teargas action at KL Sentral 'criminal act'

(Malaysiakini) PKR has accused the police of launching an "unprovoked and brutal attack" on peaceful Bersih marchers in the Kuala Lumpur Sentral underpass.

The party's vice president N Surendran said that the victims of this attack included Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his spouse Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang, and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Surendran added that Bersih 2.0 chief S. Ambiga and national laureate A Samad Said were also among those who were attacked.

The group had lodged at the Hilton Hotel in KL Sentral to avoid the dragnet set up since midnight to scour the city of the movement's supporters.

"As our entirely peaceful group entered the underpass, we were confronted by a line of LSF (Light Strike Force) personnel armed with tear gas guns," Surendran claimed in a statement today.

"PKR vice-chief and Batu MP Tian Chua then walked towards the police line to negotiate," he added.

"However, the police immediately responded by shouting, hitting their shields with their truncheons and pointing tear gas guns at us," he stressed.

Surendren said the police action was "calculated to kill, maim and injure the peaceful marchers" as the firing of tear gas into the confined space of the underpass was a criminal act.

The action could also have caused serious injury and death, and as such is punishable under Section 326 of the Penal Code.

"We call for the investigation and prosecution of all senior officers, including the Home Minister, who were responsible for or gave orders for these criminals acts to be carried out," said Surendran.

"A Royal Commission of Inquiry must also be set up forthwith to inquire into the violent suppression of the rakyat's fundamental right to freely assemble by the BN government," he added. 

According to a Malaysiakini journalist on site, the city's main transit point was a scene of mayhem as cops, hell-bent on stopping the organisers and Pakatan Rakyat leaders from making their way to Merdeka Stadium, spared no effort.

Their momentum, led by Tian Chua, was culled when police unleashed tear gas upon them and rushed in full force, arresting key figures and injuring some along the way.

It was at this location that Ambiga and another Bersih 2.0 organiser, Maria Chin Abdullah, was arrested.

It is learnt that during the chaos, journalists were blocked from entering the area after the cannisters were shot, and no one knew what was happening inside in the underpass.

Relating the episode further, Surendran said that within minutes of the attack, tear gas canisters were fired direct into the marchers massed together inside the underpass.

Simultaneously, he added, tear gas was also shot from the opposite side directly into the trapped group.

Inside the underpass, he noted, the gas was so thick that visibility was almost zero.

The width of the underpass leading to the trains are estimated to be about 10 metres, rendering the area narrow and inescapable.

"People were blinded and choked by the thick gas. It was a truly merciless attack that left us gasping for breath and suffocating from the gas," he lamented.

The attack injured Anwar, his bodyguard Fayadh Al-Bakri and PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, reported Surendran.

Both Fayadh and Khalid sustained direct hits from tear gas canisters and were seriously injured, he added.

However, Inspector-general of police Ismail Omar had defended the police's use of tear gas and water cannons, claiming yesterday that they were provoked into action and used only "minimal" force to disperse them.

He also explicitly denied claims that police had injured senior Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including PKR de facto chief Anwar Ibrahim by firing tear gas canisters directly at the crowd assembled at KL Sentral.

Ismail claimed that the opposition leader was not even in the thick of the action.

Surendran said it should be noted that police deliberately ignored attempts to communicate with the group, while there were no warning, time limit or dispersal order given to the crowd.

When contacted, Anwar's press secretary Eekmal Ahmad, who was also at the scene said that the group was only about 20-30 metres from the police when they fired the cannisters straight at them.

Eekmal said the underpass was very narrow and dark and the crowd faced the danger of being trapped inside.

He added that situation was very chaotic and it was difficult to ascertain how many cannisters were fired at the public.

Police say 1,401 protesters were arrested during the day-long operation, including 13 children. The authorities estimate the crowd turnout between 5,000 to 6,000, while Bersih claims that up to 50,000 participated.

However, independent reports estimated as many as 50,000 people had turned up for the rally calling for clean and fair elections.