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PKR today said it has evidence to disprove Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan''s claim that the police made 'no body contact' in relation to the mass rally on Nov 25.
"About 100 people were hurt when they were assaulted by the FRU (riot police) and police during a gathering at Batu Caves. One of them is warded in the Intensive Care Unit," he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur. According to Manikavasagam, a crowd of 3,000 – mostly from neighbouring states – had gathered inside the Batu Caves compound to spend the night before the rally. He said at about 3am, the police allegedly fired tear gas and water cannons over and through the gates of the compound on the crowd which had nowhere to run. Previously, Musa denied the use of tear gas and water cannons in the Batu Caves compound, which is Malaysia's most popular Hindu shrine. Video evidence Manikavasagam claimed that he has video and anecdotal evidence to back his claim and that this would be presented to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) tomorrow. Apart from this, the PKR leader added that he has evidence of excessive force being applied by the police during the rally on Sunday morning. In one example, Manikavasagam showed reporters pictures of B Arumugam, 27, who was heavily bandaged on the nose. Arumugam, from Seremban, was among the thousands who had gathered at the crack of dawn near the iconic KLCC Twin Towers. Manikavasagam claimed that Arumugam was hit by a tear gas cannister while seated in a crowd and sustained injuries that required 27 stitches and further surgery. "The best part is, the police took him away, gave him RM20 and told him to take a taxi to the hospital… They don't want the public to see what had happened to him," he alleged. Temple called the cops "There were a lot of people outside the temple (around midnight). We could not control the crowd, so we called the police," he said. Devarajoo claimed that the police arrived at the scene after 1am to disperse the crowd. "We opened the back door to allow people to leave," he said, denying that the police had entered the Batu Caves compound. He also denied news reports that the damage in the compound added up to RM10,000 and that a bus was torched in the incident. "There were minor damages to the gate and a fridge. There was no major damage," he said. The rally was organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf)to support a lawsuit by Hindraf against Britain for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years. |
Contrary to the police chief's assertion that his personnel exercised restraint, PKR supreme council member S Manikavasagam said the heaviest police action took place in Batu Caves on the night before. 
