A total of 89 anti-GST activists were arrested today, of whom 26 are being held overnight by police.
Twenty five of them, including six women, are being transported from the Kelana Jaya Police Station to the Shah Alam District Police Headquarters. (The 25 arrived there after midnight; the remaining one of them is still at Kelana Jaya.)
Scuffle breaks out bet police n protestors at the Kelana Jaya P station. pic.twitter.com/TuD5vYyMBR
— Charles Santiago (@mpklang) March 23, 2015
Among those on board the police truck is Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, perhaps the most principled parliamentarian around. He said the 26 include PSM secretary general Arul and party activists Saras, Soh Sook Hwa and Suresh, as well as Kuala Kerai MP Dr Hatta Ramli and Chegu Bard.
“They have finished recording all our statements, done the finger-printing, etc,” said Jeyakumar from inside the police truck as it sped away from Kelana Jaya Police Station. “There is no need to hold us like this. The purpose of detention is to facilitate investigations but they seem to be punishing us by holding us overnight.”
These were some of those arrested earlier at the sit-in protest at Kelana Jaya:
anda semua wira. t kasih “@zunarkartunis: Di lokap polis KlnaJaya skrg. Aktivis ditangkap kerana bantah GST pic.twitter.com/8QTQQlvNSE”
— Radin Shamsulkamar (@radins) March 23, 2015
Imagine that: The arrests took place during the four-day Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights’ meeting beginning on 21 March which is being chaired by Malaysia.
AICHR chair talks about human rights tonight while police are attacking protestors outside the Customs building. @AmnestyMy @AseanPF
— Shamini Darshni (@shaminiamnesty) March 23, 2015
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Why Police is arresting people who are concerned with their livelihood? Why Police don’t arrest criminals and reduce crime rate? Look at most housing estate now have to hire security. Failure of the Police to do their job. They are big bullies against peace loving people of the country. They are (allegedly) cowards when facing hardcore criminals. When the police start arresting everyone they can get their hands on it is a sign of desperation. It is naive thinking that mass arrests can deter more protests. It usually has the opposite effect. At some point in time some police officers… Read more »