{"id":782,"date":"2007-11-25T23:45:08","date_gmt":"2007-11-25T15:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/11\/25\/tear-gas-fired-at-defiant-protesters-820am\/"},"modified":"2007-11-25T23:45:08","modified_gmt":"2007-11-25T15:45:08","slug":"tear-gas-fired-at-defiant-protesters-820am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/11\/25\/tear-gas-fired-at-defiant-protesters-820am\/","title":{"rendered":"Tear gas fired at defiant protesters 8.20am"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
Tear gas fired at defiant protesters
http:\/\/www.malaysiakini.com\/news\/75246 <\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Nov 25, 07 8:20am<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Hours before the protest organised by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is due to take place, the police have already begun firing tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse crowds in three areas in Kuala Lumpur. <\/p>\n

The protesters defied the police's 'arrest on sight' order as they turned up in the thousands to join the demonstration.<\/p>\n

The police fired a volley of tear gas at Jalan Ampang at about 7.40am<\/font><\/strong> today to disperse a large crowd who had gathered there. The area has been declared a curfew zone by the police. <\/p>\n

Earlier, the police also used tear gas to disperse a crowd which gathered at Batu Caves and the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) areas.<\/p>\n

According to Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar, police fired tear gas at those sleeping in Batu Caves temple at 4am. Unconfirmed reports said about 700 people were arrested there.<\/p>\n

\"\"Uthayakumar also said that the police attacked a crowd near Maxis Tower in KLCC, firing at least 15 tear-gas canisters. About 20 were said to be arrested with some suffering from injuries.<\/p>\n

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Despite roadblocks and a tight police cordon to seal off the city, thousands of Indians from all around the country have arrived in Kuala Lumpur since last night.<\/p>\n

Some of the protesters were already at Jalan Ampang near Hotel Nikko and Ampang Park – a stone throw away from the British High Commission – early this morning.<\/p>\n

Despite repeated firing of chemical-laced water against the 5,000-strong crowd, the protestors appeared defiant and refused to budge.<\/p>\n

However, by 8.30am<\/font><\/strong> the police have successfully forced the crowd to move out of the area, many of whom congregating near the National Heart Institute along Jalan Tun Razak.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another group which has gathered near Tabung Haji building was pushed back by the volleys of police tear gas to near the United States embassy further down Jalan Tun Razak.<\/p>\n

By 9am<\/font><\/strong>, the police numbering about 1,000 have cleared most of area in the vicinity of Ampang Park and the British High Commission of protestors.<\/p>\n

UPDATE 9.30am, 10,000 in KLCC:<\/strong> <\/font>The protesters are split into three major groups – about 3,000 south of Jalan Tun Razak with the police pushing the crowd back into Jalan Kia Peng and Jalan Bukit Bintang. <\/p>\n

\"\"Another 3,000 are north of Jalan Tun Razak near the National Heart Institute. Many of these protesters are moving to KLCC to join the third group.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the crowd in KLCC has surged to between 10,000 and 15,000.<\/font><\/p>\n

The protesters – a mix of young and old from all parts of the country – were being addressed with loudhailers by Hindraf leaders, including Uthayakumar. In the bid to disperse the crowd, the police fired tear gas into the defiant crowd every 10 minutes. <\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

The rally has been declared illegal by the police, who have also obtained an unprecedented court order to prohibit people from taking part in it. <\/p>\n

\"\"Large groups of people have gathered at various spots around the city centre even at dawn – all hoping to break the police cordon to march towards the British High Commission at 10am. <\/p>\n

Jalan Ampang – where the high commission is located – and three other roads have been closed since 3am to stop the crowd from arriving at the protest venue.<\/p>\n

Also closed are two LRT (light rail transit) stations near the area – the Ampang Park and KLCC stations.<\/p>\n

Why the protest?
<\/font><\/strong>
The planned protest is to support a lawsuit against Malaysia's former colonial power for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, the suit sought a declaration that the Reid Commission Report 1957 failed to incorporate the rights of the Indian community when independence was granted, resulting in discrimination and marginalisation to this day. <\/p>\n

The quantum being sought is about US$2 million for every Indian currently residing in Malaysia. <\/p>\n

Following the filing of the suit, Hindraf held nationwide roadshows explaining to grassroots about the case. <\/p>\n

Coupled with their work to prevent rampant state-sanctioned demolition of Hindu temples, Hindraf won over a wave of support for their cause.<\/p>\n

Today's memorandum was to petition Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a Queen's counsel to argue the case on their behalf.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tear gas fired at defiant protestershttp:\/\/www.malaysiakini.com\/news\/75246 Nov 25, 07 8:20am Hours before the protest organised by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is due to take place, the police have already begun firing tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse crowds in three areas in Kuala Lumpur. The protesters defied the police's 'arrest on sight' order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[38,112,21,133,103,24,27,275,105],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian","tag-batu-caves","tag-discrimination","tag-hindraf","tag-isa","tag-marginalisation","tag-mic","tag-protest","tag-temples","tag-uthaya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}