Seven arrested in anti-Mubarak demo

Saturday February 5, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: The chaos in Egypt “trickled down” to Malaysia during an anti-Hosni Mubarak rally here.

The rally in Malaysia saw at least seven demonstrators arrested and several others injured as police took swift action to control the situation.

The mass rally started after the Friday prayer to present a memorandum to the American Embassy here.

Thousands of people gathered at Tabung Haji and KLCC mosque after Friday prayers and marched to the American Embassy to urge its government to stop supporting Mubarak and to stop interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs.

Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman confirmed at least seven people were detained for questioning. He said those detained had acted aggressively.

“We had to take stern action to keep the situation under control,” he said, adding one of the detainees did not bring his MyKad.

He also confirmed that all those arrested were Malaysians.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said the police should not have resorted to physical force to disperse the crowd.

“I too sustained bruises on my neck when a policeman hit me with a blunt object.

“Some protesters complained of being kicked and sprayed with pepper spray,” he said.

Shamsul said the chaos started because those who took part had overstayed by five minutes.

“We were only allowed to hold the rally from 2pm to 3.05pm.

“But we had to take extra five minutes as the crowd was larger than anticipated and we needed time to disperse after reciting the Quran,” he said.

Source: The Star.
Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/5/nation/7976307.