Unruly mob has its way at police station

Families of detained PSM members go through a harrowing experience as pleas for help to diffuse the situation is ignored by officers.

KEPALA BATAS: A group of unruly youths caused panic among families of detained PSM members at the northern Seberang Perai (SPU) district police headquarters last night.

PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan led about 40 family members of the 30 detained PSM activists to lodge a second round of police reports at the station at 8.30pm.

As the family members were lodging their reports at a mobile police booth outside the headquarters, a group of unruly youths, started to mushroom at the place.

The boisterous group began to intimidate the family members and walked menacingly towards PSM supporters gathered outside the police station.

Several of youths barged their way through the PSM group and entered the police station. Sensing trouble, Arutchelvan sought police help to provide protection to his people.

However, instead of providing protection, he said a police officer told the PSM members to leave the area first.

“If you all disperse, they will disperse,” the officer allegedly told Arutchelvan and several others.

Fortunately for the PSM members, a small group of Pakatan Rakyat local leaders, led by mainland councillor Johari Kassim from PKR arrived at the scene.

They quickly whisked away the PSM supporters into a tour bus and took them to the PAS local base in Pongsu Seribu.

The group of youths then began dispersing from the area, and the PSM supporters later spent the night at the PAS base.

Families of the PSM members arrested last Saturday evening at the Sungai Dua toll plaza of the North-South Expressway arrived at the district headquarters at 11am.

‘Police conniving with local thugs’

They lodged their police reports after they were not allowed to visit the detainees, among whom were Sungai Siput MP Dr D Micheal Jeyakumar.

Jeyakumar, PSM deputy chief M Saraswathy and a bus driver known only as Selvam are currently warded at the Penang Hospital to seek treatment for health problems.

All the detainees are being investigated for allegedly ‘waging war’ against the King.

Arutchelvan said that PSM members were not involved in any illegal gathering when they arrived here in the morning from Sungai Siput in a tour bus.

“We came here to visit our family members who have been detained. We only started to lodge reports when our requests to see them was turned down,” he said.

Arutchelvan said police officers told him to submit a formal request to Penang police chief Ayub Yaakob to obtain permission to visit the detainees.

Meanwhile, Hindraf Makkal Sakthi advisor N Ganesan, who was at the scene, said it was clear that the police were conniving with local thugs to chase away the PSM members.

“The police made no attempt to disperse the thugs who gathered illegally in the area. The situation was really tense and the thugs looked mean,” he said.

Arutchelvan was among the 28 people arrested in Tangkak, Johor, during the southern leg of the Bersih campaign yesterday. They were all released some hours later.

The PSM leaders and members were on a nationwide roadshow to woo people to join the planned mammoth Bersih rally on July 9 in KL demanding for free and fair elections.