Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Hmmm..i thought I’d never read this news in papers. But surprise, surprise, police “picked up” Khir Toyo and another fella for questioning (one may suspect that could be for their “own protection” or even some sort of publicity gimmick in view of impending party elections):
Former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and a local Umno Youth leader were picked up by the police for questioning in an aborted protest march against veteran parliamentarian Karpal Singh in George Town today.
Mohd Khir’s car was stopped at a junction near Waterfall Hotel as he was leaving with his aides and Permatang Pauh Umno Youth chief Mohd Zaidi Said. They were then escorted by a patrol car to the city police headquarters in Jalan Patani for questioning.Mohd Khir, an Umno Youth national leadership aspirant, and Mohd Zaidi were later released after police recorded their statements.
Sporting a songkok, and wearing a white shirt and black pants, Mohd Khir was earlier about to lead a protest march from Youth Park in Waterfall to Karpal’s house, located about a kilometer away.
Umno Youth had planned to demonstrate outside Karpal’s house at 3pm over the DAP leader’s intention to file a lawsuit against Perak ruler Sultan Azlan Shah.
However, Mohd Khir and the protesters aborted their plan about 10 minutes before the protest was scheduled to start when the police warned them of stern action.
The police, including members of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), appeared to outnumber the protesters.
Police also stayed guard outside Karpal’s bungalow to thwart any untoward incidents and seized banners with anti-Karpal, anti-Pakatan, pro-Malay and pro-Umno slogans.
Addressing those present with a loud hailer, Mohd Zaidi said: “Even though the police may have stopped us today, our Malay spirit will never die.”
He also took the police to task for stopping their peaceful demonstration.
The protesters started chanting ‘Hidup Melayu‘ (Long Live Malays) and ‘Daulat Tuanku‘ (Hail The King) when the police moved in to arrest Mohd Zaidi.
At this juncture, the protestors, some of them sporting red headbands with the words ‘Daulat Tuanku‘, managed to rescue Mohd Zaidi and whisked him away to a nearby car.
However, Mohd Zaidi was later picked up together with Mohd Khir.
The crowd dispersed immediately when George Town police district chief ACP Azam Abdul Hamid raised his voice and gave them a five-minute deadline to disperse.
Azam later told reporters that the gathering was illegal and the police would have arrested the protesters if they had started to march to Karpal’s house.
Earlier, the police stopped and turned back several buses and vans ferrying protesters at several check points from reaching Youth Park.
Knowing our makkal, this drama will be dismissed as another ploy or publicity stunt. Or worse, to justify arrest of some politicians from the other side.
