The Hindraf Gathering, part deux
“The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it” - John Gilmore
MalaysiaKini has up-ed the projected number of people who attended the gathering to 30,000.
Already we have two more Al-Jazeera reports up:
Hindraf Report:
Hindraft 11.35 am report:
The Use of Unjustified Police Force
Famous human rights lawyer and activist, Malik Imtiar Sarwarat, wrote on his blog:
From the report it would seem that even before 7.40 am, tear gas was fired into crowds at Jalan Ampang, KLCC and Batu Caves. At 9.30 am, tear gas was still being fired. It appears also that participants are being beaten, women and children not being spared.
The question is why. The police obtained an order allowing officers to arrest on sight (see Malaysiakini report “Cops obtain rare court order against HINDRAF”). If there are persons breaching the order then arrests should be made and, in fact, it appears that arrests have been made already.
The order DOES NOT authorize the use of force. I would go further, the order, in allowing for preemptive measures, lends against the use of force.
From the blogosphere, the reports are pouring in…
Nathaniel Tan writes:
The police were horrible.
The police and whoever is pulling their accursed strings.
I’m a little too agitated to either write fully about what happened or upload all my pictures right now. But I’ll try to asap.
In the meantime, let me relate the core of my experience.
When I arrived near the Ampang LRT station on foot, things were very subdued. The crowds had been dispersed violently earlier.
I waited for quite a while, before some Hindraf leaders finally showed up.
They spoke to the crowd for a while, signalling their peaceful intentions to hand over the memorandum.
…
I think everyone was caught unprepared, especially after the cops had been just chilling for so long.Confusion ensued, and our ever nervous cops suddenly got really scared and trigger happy.
That’s when they fired volley after volley of tear gas.
…
I was near the front, and inexperienced with tear gas, so it caught me a little unawares.Oh by God it hurt.
I thought I was going to suffocate.
It was all I could do to walk slowly away with the fleeing crowd. I wasn’t sure if there’d be FRU beating us from behind as we left.
A summary of what followed: the cops successfully divided the crowd into various parts of the city.
…
Soon after though, they started sending in cops.They sent in two types. The FRU with their tear gas, and these plainclothes guys (who knows if there were even cops), who were these real arrogant bastards that were screaming at everyone in their “Kau nak kurang ajar hah?! Aku tunjuk kau nanti!” kind of attitude.
…
Like they were such bad asses. Really getting in your face with their self-righteous anger.The situation could have gotten very tense and very racial very fast.
To their credit, the many insulted Indians in the crowd did not take to violence. They could only vent through the occasional shouting and cursing.
When they really wanted to move us, they started firing tear gas.
I have to say that I ran.
Danny, of The Danesh Project, writes:
So, we got down at the Damai station and started walking towards KLCC. A large group of people were following at the back of us. Very proud to have such support, we started walking even faster. Suddenly, we saw a group of people walking from the opposite direction. One young man stopped to inform us that tear gas is being shot by the police. He asked us to turn back because the effects of the tear gas was so bad that we would not be able to take it. We told him thank you for the information and that we have come so far, we are not going to turn back just because tear gas is being shot. We continued to walk towards KLCC. The large group behind us was also marching with us. We finally reached the Jalan Semarak junction.
We heard screams from people. We were shocked to see the amount of FRU trucks parked there and FRU personnel on a frenzy of shooting tear gas towards the crowd. They were shooting everywhere. One of the cannisters actually hit a guy and left his back swollen. He did not give up. He washed his back and continued to walk to find another location to gather. He was not ready to go back till the purpose he was there is reached.
My eyes and skin were burning as if hot water was splashed on my face. My nose and trachea was also burning. Once again, the true Malaysian spirit was seen. A Muslim family from Kg. Baru actually gave us water and helped us to wash off. I had tears in my eyes to see this show of support. We were always being led by the false impression that the Malays are not happy with the Indians and the Chinese. However the truth is, the Rakyat have no problem with each other. It is the politicians that create their own stories and cause racial problems. Let be UMNO, MIC or MCA. Our government failed to see that we are not Malays, Indians or Chinese. We are Malaysians. Why can’t the government accept this fact?