Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Most of the information below is based on report from my star reporter who was on the ground, while other sources include Mahendran, Vishnu and Kannan who were there too.
The day started late as managed to leave home at 9.20am. Reached Masjid Jamek Station via LRT around 10.15am to avoid jam. There were two policemen sitting down tiredly at the station. While in LRT, saw the roads near Museum and National Mosque jammed. There were roadblocks at Jalan Puchong, Shah Alam Hicom, Serdang etc. Along the way, got information from two different reliable sources that teargas has been used on the people who assembled to deliver flowers. The group has been broken up and people are around Masjid India area.
Took some photos at Dataran Merdeka (10.50am), showing heavy police presence. At least 50 police/FRU plus 5 trucks. Road were closed Walked to Masjid India, and then got the news that people are gathering at Court Malai Pillaiyar Temple at Jalan Pudu. Met many Indians along the way; most were in small groups of 2 to 5 people. Got news that blogger Mahendran was arrested. Was advised to take alternative road to the temple since police were simply arresting Indians. Got lost walking around and decided to take the usual road – Jalan Tun Perak to Jalan Pudu.
By this time, the crowd at the temple were about 400 people (11.40am). They were at the temple area while about 15 policemen were at the bottom of the hill, on Jalan Pudu. Lots of people were gathering and watching the scene. Another group has left to Pudu Jail/ Hang Tuah Police Station to demand release of HINDRAF spritual leader Rama ji who was arrested at 12.30am early Saturday morning. According to my source who was part of that group, the police provided escort while they marched to Pudu Jail, a sort of a history since this is first time Malaysian police protecting the public who are marching, instead of shooting tear gas or hitting them.
There crowd were listening to talks by some of the organisers. Seelan Pallay, the guy who was fasting in Singapore for a week was also there. The speakers claimed that the letter saying Thanenthiran is not the national coordinator has been forged to create confusion among the Indians. Spent about 30 minutes there.
Decided to walk to Pudu Jail, but by the time got there (12.15pm), only trucks and police were there. Learned that the group has dispersed and some have gone to PULAPOL since the detainees have been moved there. Mahendran who was detained, updated saying that about 150 to 200 people were there, and so far he is fine.
Since there nothing much to do and the crowd has dispersed, turned back home.
The total was estimated to be around 2000 to 3000 people, but at the temple, there were about 400 to 500 people only. Many dispersed and broken up into small groups due to the tear gas fired. Mahendran also said that no children were at PULAPOL.
In my opinion, the police were able to break up the group due to fast action early in the day itself. Then, they hounded and caught those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Also, without proper contigency plan, the group could not move and get itself organised, and in the end failed to delivered the flowers (not that our PM wants it!). But one thing for sure, BN will be losing whatever balance sympathy it had from the Indian community. This makes life harder for MIC. Instead of relying on newspapers and TV, Indians are getting info from SMSes, websites and from other Indians.
By the way, most of the police looked tired, while there were quite a number of plainclothesmen walking around identifying those that should be arrested.
Update at 6.30pm, Mahendran has been released. Most people were released, but 3 or 4 people were arrested, especially those that have prior conviction for other offences. One child was taken to Kepong Welfare Office because the police arrested the parents and left the child.
More photos and news at www.bmahendran.com and http://www.roses4pm.blogspot.com/
Malaysiakini Report below:
200 nabbed at rose protest
http://malaysiakini.com/news/78137
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | Feb 16, 08 11:33am
Police fired teargas and chemical-laced water cannons in a bid to disperse some 300 Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) supporters gathered for a peaceful rose handing-over ceremony at Jalan Raja Laut early this morning. The Hindraf event was initially scheduled to be held at Parliament gates where 200 children were to hand over roses as a peaceful gesture requesting that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to heed the group’s 18-point demands.
News that roads leading to Parliament were closed to prevent the group from going there then led them to change the venue to Jalan Raja Laut in the city centre. According to Hindraf acting leader S Thanenthiran who was present at the gathering, about 200 people have been arrested including Hindraf’s rose campaign coordinator S Manickavasagam and popular blogger B Mahendran.
Women and children were among those detained.
Witnesses also claimed that police had aggressively manhandled a women with her child when they wanted to arrest her. “The woman was crying aloud because the police forced her to leave her child when she was arrested,” said Mahendran who later informed Malaysiakini of the woman’s condition through his mobile phone.
Detained at roaddblocks
Thanenthiran added that almost two thirds of them were detained prior to the gathering at roadblocks set up along the routes leading to the city. They are being held at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur. There were heavy police and riot squads presence in Jalan Raja Laut. Four water cannon trucks were stationed along the route leading to Parliament.
It is learnt that the police have been stationed at key areas pertaining to the gathering since last night. Roadblocks were also set up at various key routes leading into the city.
“The police outnumbered the crowd in three folds. I saw several of them firing teargas canisters to the peaceful crowd. Why is there a need to fire that many teargas canisters when one is strong enough (to disperse the crowd),” said a tourist who happened to be in the area.
After the teargas and water cannons were fired, the crowd were chased by some 40 plainclothes policemen. They then retreated into the Masjid India area. The dispersed crowd then walked in small separate groups towards the Court Malai Pillayar Temple in Jalan Pudu where another stand- off occurred between Hindraf supporters and the police. At this point, ten people were arrested while seeking shelter in the temple. Three more were later nabbed while making their way to the KL Remand Centre in Jalan Hang Tuah to show support to some Hindraf members who were detained last night.
By this time, the crowd had dispersed and small groups made their way to Pulapol to show support to those detained. According to A Sivanesan who is the group’s legal adviser, lawyers have been sent to Pulapol to ensure that detainees get proper legal help. ahendran, who was arrested near the Masjid Jamek area, had managed to contact Malaysiakini through his mobile phone and said that the “police are taking people in batches for questioning”
Police reaction unnecessary
Self-exiled Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy in a statement issued immediately after learning of the arrests said he was extremely disturbed by the manner in which the police handled the matter. “Peaceful struggle, gesture of Love and cry for justice of the poor and underclass Indian society has been met with violence and brutality by the state sanctioned by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The attack on peaceful poor and underclass people who came with roses is appalling, “I invite all peace loving people throughout the world to condemn this brutal attack on innocent citizens who were exercising their rights under Article 10 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution and Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he said. Police have declared today’s event illegal as no permit was given to the group.
The Star: 160 held after illegal ‘rose rally’
By M. KRISHNAMOORTHY, IZATUN SHARI and RASHITHA A. HAMID
KUALA LUMPUR: Police detained 160 Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) supporters who took part in its “rose” campaign near the Dataran Merdeka area here yesterday morning.From the total, 151 were later released, including rally coordinator S. Manickavasagam and Hindraf adviser R. Raguram. Also released was an 11-year-old girl. Nine others, aged 23 to 53, are expected to be taken to the magistrate’s court to be remanded today.
City police chief Deputy Comm Mohammed Sabtu said the supporters, some from Penang, Kedah and Perak, had arrived here as early as 6pm on Friday. He said police stopped a bus at the Sungai Besi toll plaza at 5am and detained 29 people, including Manickavasagam.
He said a 22-year-old constable was injured in the leg during the protest.
“We have already announced earlier that no permit had been given for this gathering,” he told reporters. The Hindraf supporters with children holding roses had planned to gather outside the Parliament building and the leaders wanted to hand over a memorandum on improving the lot of the Indian community.
Police had earlier set up road blocks and closed the road leading to Parliament building. The road closures resulted in Hindraf changing their destination to the Suhakam office at Jalan Raja Laut. At 9.20am, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd at Jalan Raja Laut after repeated warnings went unheeded. Many of the supporters scattered to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Masjid Jamek areas.Then the police began detaining those who refused to budge.The supporters later moved to the Puduraya area where they gathered at a temple before proceeding to Pudu jail. Raguram was arrested while giving a speech outside the temple at 12.25pm.
The Hindraf supporters who gathered at the temple dispersed at 1pm.
NST: Police disperse Hindraf protesters
source
Fadhal A. Ghani and Marc Lourdes
KUALA LUMPUR: Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse several hundred Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) supporters, who defied orders to hold an illegal rally here yesterday. A total of 160 people, including one on the police wanted list, were arrested, but most of them were released after their particulars were taken down. Only nine, including one woman, aged between 35 and 40, were remanded for repeatedly defying police instructions to disperse. One policeman was injured. Constable Mohd Farid Mohd Aman fractured the right heel after being pushed near the Masjid Jamek LRT station.
Hindraf, which claims that Hindus have been margina- lised besides also making outrageous accusations of ethnic cleansing against the government, purportedly organised the gathering at parliament house to hand over roses to the prime minister and to petition the release of the movement’s five leaders detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
But not one rose was seen [clip of roses being handed out are in youtube] and, instead, the gathering took the form of a protest, with Hindraf leaders urging the crowd not to vote for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in the general election. The protesters had also for weeks said the rally would be peaceful and they would bring their children along. There were hardly any children in sight and most of the protesters were between 20 and 60 years. [the leaders clarified that bus carrying children were diverted since the police were becomin violent]
The Hindraf gathering came to a nervous stand-off with police who had blockaded roads to prevent untoward incidents spilling over and affecting holiday-makers and businesses open in the city centre. There were massive traffic jams into the city centre because of the gathering as police blocked off roads to veer off the demonstrators. More than 300 police and Federal Reserve Unit personnel were deployed for crowd control.
Officers from the Welfare Department were also present in case the demonstrators had risked bringing children, as originally planned.The crowd brandished banners saying, “How is the future going to be?” and “Batalkan ISA, Bebaskan Dari ISA” (Abolish the ISA, Free them from the ISA).The protest was a far cry from the Hindraf rally last November when several thousand people caused a lockdown of the city when they stood off against police in several parts of the city’s business district at Jalan Ampang, Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Tun Razak.
Police, who were on standby from early morning, managed to divert at least two buses carrying Hindraf supporters to the Police Training College in Jalan Semarak. The remaining protesters, most of them clad in the Hindu spiritual saffron-coloured tops, began gathering at Dataran Merdeka, Masjid Jamek and Jalan Pudu after finding Jalan Parlimen closed off. By 9.20am, when police failed to persuade them to disperse, water cannon and tear gas were fired. Those who refused to move, including campaign co-ordinator S. Manickavasagam, were arrested.
At 10.50am, another crowd of about 300 began to appear at the Courtu Malai Pillaiyar temple in Jalan Pudu Lama to listen to Hindraf adviser R. Raguram speak. Raguram, along with several others, was arrested about 12.30pm, after which the rally petered out. Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman said 138 men and 22 women, including a mother and daughter, were picked up by police.Of the total, 151, including the mother and daughter, were released a few hours later. He said the remaining nine, aged between 35 and 40, would be remanded today.One of the men is on the police wanted list for a criminal case in Sentul.
MP: Ganesh, this are the things that happened as seen. The truth may hurt, but it is still the truth. The roses were not delivered. People were hit with tear gas and water. The campaign was good on paper, but it did not work according to plan. In the end, the objective of showing police brutality was achieved. But the objective of flower delivery failed. If you have a differing opinion, do leave your comments on, for example, the positive signals.
Rose For PM fizzles out.
Fizzles out…?
Please don’t send negative signals about the campaign.
MP: There were at least 2000 people. The police themselves arrested more than 130, and still there were about 400 people at the temple. Bad coordination, I agree. I think the plan was simple – meet in one location and then disperse, but the police intervention made it go all wrong. There were improvised arrangement, like moving to the temple, which was not relayed to everyone involved. Why was there “verbal violence”? Kind of chicken and egg story? Breaking of law, right! Now imagine if the permit was given. No laws broken, I suppose? Unruly depends on who interprets it? Anyway, the target of 10,000 people was not achieved. Some did not get the message, most work on Saturdays, some can’t afford the cost, some were scared, and some don’t want to come. I like to think what would have happened if someone actually came and collected the flowers. What do you think?
Fizzled out ? That’s a massive understatement bro..an unmitigated disaster and fiasco is the term that springs to my mind…
After all the hype and publicity, only around 300 people turned up and most of them are the usual hard core HINDRAF supporters.
The group was badly coordinated and organized and led. These was massive confusion as the leadership itself is divided. Thevendran has no credibility to lead HINDRAF, just an opportunist exploiting the power vacuum.
BTW what police brutality you are talking about ? How about the “peaceful” protesters’ verbal violence and breaking of law ? The usage of tear gas is not a std police practice anywhere in the world including the West in handling unruly crowds.
As for the women claiming to be manhandled by the police, I hope she will be charged of child abuse for bring her kid to the demo. This is stupidy and don’t blame others when you get separated from your child. These people are gutless idiots for using children as human-shields. Gandhi-ji never used children to protect himself. HINDRAF please explain how this tactic adheres to Ahimsa.
My theory is being proven true, HINDRAF is fading into oblivion very quickly indeed. In fact it looks more like “crash and burn”….Time to write the obituary soon…
Bye Bye HINDRAF…..
=) thknx for the suport.
nitez.
we need to show the People’s Power to the Bodoh Nasional which treats us like road dogs !
Every Indian (incl those in civil service,BN component parties,armed forces) with self-dignity will NOT vote BN !!
Indians , since BN hates Indian gathering , pls do not attend any BN election ceramah !!
Yes , street gatherings could always be easily twisted as unruly as it boldly depends how forces handle the scene . Authority could pass a law where kids below 3years not allowed to sit in a car for safety reasons . So is it barbaric act if a parent did so ?? Authority also say a thorn could be used as weapon so does it mean all florists are terrorists ?
It all depends how authority paints the picture ?? Sadly crooks come out and condemn us w/o analyzing true facts . Crooks always crooks . Well , Tamils always say when there is Kattabomman there will be a ettappan also .
Whatever it is and whoever say what , the ballot box must be used correctly . I’ll ensure having 100% support for not to vote BN among my relations ,frends …etc . I’m appealing all Indians to do the same !
One more appeal to fellow Indians . Do not stop sharing news among only Indians . I’m sure all of us have many non-Indian friends also .
One Singh fren told me he will try his best to convince his family not to vote ‘naattan’ controlled BN . Number of my chinese frens in PG agreed that voting BN this time is not a wise decision . It seems most of them hate umno-putra that much. Also have some chinese support in Ipoh .
In one of a local chinese controlled blog most readers condemn BN’s brutality . They may not fully agree with Hindraf’s struggles but at the same time they dislike the cruel way BN(umno) handles Hindraf .
Some of my chinese frens condemn SV much vulgarly than Indians themselves .
The rule is simple . The world is watching ! They beat up 200Indians doesnt mean that no one else would know . In the age of cyber , anything is possible.
So , pls reach your non-Indian frens too .