Witness: Cops shouted 'Ram them! Ram them!'

A motorcyclist ferrying PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu during the Bersih 2.0 rally said he heard shouts of “Langgar! Langgar! (Ram them!)” before colliding with a police patrol car.

Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Halim, 36, a driver, who only has a "L" (learners) motercycle licence said this during the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry into alleged police abuses during the rally on July 9.

Relating the incident, Zulkifli said he and Mohamad were at Jalan Travers when suddenly they were overtaken by a police 4WD vehicle and were told to stop.

"There was a security check point in front so I made a U-turn to stop on the left side. However, I heard one of the police in the Pajero shouting: ‘Langgar! Langgar!’. In a split second I decided to move on to avoid a collision,” he testified.

After dodging the 4WD vehicle, Zulkifli said he then had to avoid two police patrol cars that were tailing them because the vehicles were trying to block their path.

Two cops helped Mat Sabu to his feet

Following this, Suhakam commissioners repeatedly quizzed Zulkifli on whether which vehicle had collided on to which, to which he replied that the police vehicle was at fault.

"The police car was not stationery as it was moving towards us and I manage to evade but it hurt Mat Sabu (Mohamad’s nickname)," said the witness, who appeared apprehensive at times.

He said that he had veered away from the police vehicle but Mohamad’s knee struck the headlamp causing the duo to fall.

To a question, he said he was traveling at about 20 km/h but he could not estimate the speed of the police car.

Following the collision, two police personnel had to help Mohamad to his feet.

An earlier witness Assistant Superintendent Kamal Khan Mohd Shariff told the inquiry that the motorcycle had rammed into a police vehicle and that Mohamad could walk unassisted.

Penal to visit accident scene

Earlier, Zulkifli testified that he was waiting outside Miramar Hotel near Jalan Loke Yew and then met Mohamad who was at another hotel at about noon.

"Mat Sabu wanted to have Zohor prayers at the National mosque and ask me to bring him there. However, we notice there were many roadblocks that day."

At this point, commissioner Mahmood Zuhdi Abdul Majid remarked that noon was too early for Zohor prayers, the witness replied that he and Mohamad were going to “rehat (rest)” at the mosque.

He also denied claims that the police had repeatedly demanded that they stop their vehicle and that the police vehicles only appeared along Jalan Travers towards Bukit Persekutuan.

The public inquiry continues on Nov 22 and 23 with the commissioners and parties expected to visit the scene of the collision.