IGP: Police Had No Choice But To Fire Tear Gas, Water Cannons

(Bernama) - KUALA LUMPUR -- Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar said the situation in the federal capital became peaceful again about 5pm yesterday after the group participating in the illegal rally dubbed 'Bersih 2.0' had dispersed.

He said that in the incident, police had detained 1,401 people including 13 children and 115 women.

However, he said police were still monitoring the situation around the federal capital before reopening the roadblocks to ensure that those who had joined the rally did not regroup.

"I have directed the Kuala Lumpur Acting Police Chief (Amar Singh) to carry out a surveillance to ensure that the crowd do not return. We will only remove the barricades after the surveillance reveals that the situation is satisfactory.

"If possible, I want to remove the roadblocks now but we have to monitor until everything have truly ended," he told reporters at a media conference at Bukit Aman, here.

Ismail said about 6,000 people had participated in the illegal rally which had assembled at two locations namely Puduraya and outside the Merdeka Stadium.

"They had started to assemble before 2pm at Puduraya before moving towards Dataran Merdeka although they had been advised by police to disperse earlier," he said.

However, he said the advice was ignored which left the police with no choice but to fire the tear gas and water cannons.

On those who were detained, Ismail said police had provided a detention area at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) and they were well treated and given food and medical care for those who were injured.

He said for those who were detained, an investigation would be carried out as soon as possible and they would be released immediately upon the conclusion of investigation depending on the case.

However, police had yet to determine the number of those who were injured during the incident, he said.

Ismail said most of those who had participated in the rally had come from outside Kuala Lumpur, including from the East Coast.

Meanwhile, Ismail said he regretted that the rally, which aimed to demand for a clean election had been inserted with elements propagated by the 'reformasi' group (started by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim).

"In the police observation, we find that there were people shouting 'reformasi'. Why shout 'reformasi' as though (they) wanted a repeat of the rally held in the year 2000, whereas they say they are demanding for a clean election?", he said.

On the report that Anwar was said to have been injured after being hit by tear gas, Ismail said he was not certain because Anwar was not present at both the locations of the rally.

However, he confirmed that Anwar was not detained.

In another development, the organiser of the illegal rally, S. Ambiga, who was detained at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters, had been released at about 6.30 yesterdayevening.

Ambiga was seen leaving the police headquarters after her statement had been recorded.

Meanwhile, PAS assistant secretary-general Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad confirmed that six other leaders from PAS and Bersih who were also detained at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters were to be released before 9pm.

He said the leaders concerned included PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Maria Chin Abdullah, Nurul Iman Anwar and Jun Labis, whose statements were being taken.

The Royal Malaysia Police facebook also listed several other leaders including Umno Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin, Beruas Member of Parliament Ngeh Kor Ham and Subang MP Subang R.Sivarasah as those who were detained.

(Bernama)