Police brutality would not deter toll hike protest to proceed

Nora was never afraid of the police. She’s my hero. What the police officers have done to Sdr Saari Sungib last Sunday at the Summit Shopping Complex in Subang Jaya during the toll hike protest was ugly and unacceptable. How dare they tried to hurt Saari in such an uncivilised manner? If the police continues to behave like hooligans, I’m afraid the protestors would also react violently and even retaliate. The IGP and the Prime Minister AAB must take full responsibility for their silly actions and apologise to Saari Sungib and other protestors.Time and again, we have told the police that they were not our target. Our target of protest is none other than the Umno-led BN Government. The police’ s duty was to maintain law and order. It’s our rights to assemble to voice our disagreement with the present corrupt and arrogant government. The police must at all times remain neutral and not to take sides. The protestors have proven to the world that we can maintain discipline, law and order in all our peaceful gatherings, big or small. This couple with a pair of special chidren never fails to attend toll hike protest organised by the Coalition. We salute you! We see the police force as part of the rakyat. They too suffer from the sharp toll hikes. We once again warn them not to use violence against the protestors.  The police have no reason to serve the interest of Umno. Their salaries (even the salaries enjoyed by all the Cabinet ministers for that matter) were paid by the rakyat (taxpayers) and certainly not paid by Umno.The hooligan-like behaviours have caused much unhappiness and anger among the protestors. Do not force the protestors to retaliate.  Malaysians are urged to participate  inthe 6th toll hike protest organised by the Coalition on 22 April 2007 in Cheras at the Leisure Mall. Suhakam will be releasing its report on the Bloody Sunday Incident outside KLCC tomorrow at 11.30 am at its headquarters. We will see what the Suhakam has got to say. Coalition: Tool protests to continue

Bede Hong Mar 22, 07 2:34pm Adjust font size:

Protes, a coalition of opposition parties and non-government organisations (NGOs), will sustain its protest until the government declassifies toll concession agreements.“The prime minister has remained silent on this issue. Until we see results, our campaign will continue,” said committee member Tian Chua today.Chua, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) information chief, told this to reporters at a press conference at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.The coalition has organised five protests to date since the toll rates for five highways in the Klang Valley saw a sharp hike effective Jan 1.The protests were held at the Sunway Pyramid/Damansara-Puchong highway, Gombak highway, Cheras-Kajang highway, Puchong toll plaza and outside the Summit USJ shopping mall. Three of the protests were marred by arrests and allegations of police abuse.  Police rapped Protes will organise its next demonstration outside the Leisure Mall in Cheras on April 22. According to the organiser, this will be the biggest. Previous protests have attracted between 200 and 1,000 people. “The government must reveal the toll documents and explain why such agreements were made,” Chua said. “We don’t want payment to continue to be made from our national treasury to these (concession) companies … and see the inflation rate to go up,” he added. Chua claimed that the police employed tactics “that seem to side the toll operators” such as turning on the sirens during the protest outside the Summit mall and drowning the disgruntled voices. “They have no role in deciding what the public should hear or not. Whatever we say has nothing to do with them,” he said. He cited the earlier protest outside Sunway Pyramid, which drew more than 1,000 people, but saw no untoward incidents. “That was a situation where people were relaxed and there was no tension. Summit USJ (protest) showed the negative side of the police yet again,” he said. ‘Testicles grabbed’ Meanwhile, PAS Gombak infromation chief Saari Sungib, who was also present at the press conference, claimed that he was a victim of police brutality during the protest outside the Summit mall (see photos and video). He plans to file a police report over this later today. Recounting the incident, Saari claimed that police personnel had ‘grabbed his testicles’. “Several men in plainclothes surrounded me … I was dragged by my neck … and thrown down to the ground,” he said. “Although my body was held hard, I managed to clamp my knees together to prevent them from crushing my testicles,” he added. Saari alleged that the arrest was a ‘vindictive act’ on the part of Special Branch officers who are upset with his criticisms against the police. He said that he also sustained injuries to his neck, arms and left shoulder as a result of that incident. Saari also revealed that he will take legal action against the government, inspector-general of police and all those involved in violating his human right. Four-minute video of the press conference mkinitv_client(‘protes_summary_tollhike_March22.wmv’); Five-minute video of Saari Sungib’s arrest mkinitv_client(‘SummitTollProtest_18March.wmv’);