But where is the hard evidence? Some based their opinion on the absence of police guarding the barricade, and some say the police were running away at the time of breach of barricade.
Here it is - all on tape!
I happened to stumble on the following video clip, which in my view, will provide the answer: At 3:00 minute of the video, titled Bersih 3.0 428_Part 5 Masjid Jamek, a 3-row thick police guards were seen standing behind the plastic and steel barricade, face to face against an agitating crowd obviously more than keen to get into the square.
Then suddenly, all the guarding policemen turned around and ran quickly away from the barricade towards where the water cannon trucks and riot squad were positioned some distance away along the road. That sudden withdrawal of policemen was apparently taken by the spirited crowd as a signal that they could move in.
Within seconds of the policemen leaving the barricade when they were probably about 30 meters away from the fence, the first removal and toppling of the barricade was seen and heard. Following that breach, which took place simultenously at several locations along the fencing line, a sea of people rushed into the hitherto prohibited stretch of Jalan Raja – only to be attacked with water cannon and tear gas by the waiting police force. The rest is history, as this opening shot ushered in the most savage police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators Malaysians have ever seen.
What observations can we draw from these brief seconds of drama before the police onslaught?
The police had been zealously guarding the Dataran Merdeka compound with layers of barricades including razor sharp barbed wire since pre-dawn, indicating their determination to defend the prohibited ground at all costs. Then why the sudden pull back of guards when they were most needed to fend off an emotionally charged crowd eager to move into the square?
The fact that all the guards turned around simultaneously and ran quickly away from the barricades indicates that they had been briefed beforehand, otherwise they would have been puzzled and it would have taken them quite a while to comprehend the sudden command in such a noisy atmosphere where the human voice could hardly be heard.
Who could have made such a monumental decision as the abandoning of the defence of the Dataran ground if not the highest authority?
And why did the police pull back if not for the purpose of inducing the crowd into the snaring police force?
And there are enough snapshots from video clips showing mysterious personnel in black jacket removing the steel barricade and waving the crowd to move over to deduce that the simultaneous acts of police withdrawal and barricade removal were pre-planned to induce the demonstrators into the lair.
To the conspirators, wouldn’t the breach of barricade be the perfect legal justification for a police onslaught?
And wouldn’t police violence beget violence, which would give the ruling power a heyday in showcasing the so-called ‘riotous conduct’ of demonstrators, which the mainstream media promptly did?
And wouldn’t the physical pain suffered by many among the hundreds of thousands of participants be a powerful deterrent against future demonstration?
These surmises are not far-fetched but perhaps right on the dot, judging from the denial syndrome suffered by top police officers and top Umno ministers including Prime Minister. They not only pretend ignorance of widespread unlawful police violence but squarely pin the chaos on leaders of Bersih and opposition parties.
One fatal mistake
However, Umno hardliners have made one fatal mistake. They forget that this is no more the age when Mahathir reigned supreme. This is the age of Internet and i-phones when almost everyone can capture sound and vision anytime anywhere and disseminate them instantly across the planet.
There is no way Umno can hide the brutalities inflicted on its own people. In fact thousands of messages and videos have been circulating non-stop in the Internet and i-phones showing how ordinary Malaysians have suffered in the hands of the country’s cruel rulers since the day of infamy on April 28.
The day of reckoning for Umno will come, sooner than they think. - Kim Quek,malaysian chronicle
Protester assaulted and dumped into a drain...
A protester was beaten up by three police personnel and thrown into a big drain near Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) building during the Bersih 3.0 rally last week.
Jashamsul Nizam, 27 (right), was ambushed from the back at about 3pm on Saturday when mayhem reigned in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.He said the riot police had then just fired tear gas and water cannon at the crowd which surged pass police barricades blocking off Dataran Merdeka.
“They hit me and when I fell to the ground, they kicked me.
“The three of them then carried me and threw me into the drain,” he complained.
Jashamsul, who is a lecturer in management at a private university college, joined seven others in lodging reports at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters today.
He said he remained in the dry drain, about 1m deep, hoping for assistance, but none came as the “situation was chaotic”.
“Eventually I just got up on my own and walked to the hospital,” recounted Jashamsul, who walked 5km before receiving treatment at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
According to him, he had dislocated his right kneecap and sustained a bone fracture on his hands.
‘My mobile phone saved me’
Another protester related that he was nearly hit by a tear gas canister, which came directly at him. The protester, who wished to be known only as Ang, said that he was using his mobile phone to record the chaos when the tear gas canister hit the phone.
“It would have hit my face,” exclaimed Ang to reporters, but his six-month-old phone saved him.
As a result, the phone was badly damaged and was no longer functioning properly. Robert Dass, 46, who came to support Bersih, said he had seen the worst of the police that day.
“I was not injured or arrested but I saw the police beating up and abusing the others,” he said.
The police arrested 512 protesters who were subsequently released on Saturday.-malaysiakini
A bittersweet experience...
I personally believe that there are three occasions where you can experience the spirit of 1 Malaysia: football, badminton and rally. Why did I join Bersih 3.0? Various reasons, but certainly NOT for politics.
I woke up automatically at 6.30am on April 28, an hour ahead of my alarm set. The first thing I did was to turn on my laptop and checked the updates on Facebook.
There were already an estimate of 5,000 people around Dataran Merdeka. Next, I checked RapidKL Twitter to ensure the train was in service. No service disruption. Good.
I left my house at about 8am for the Kelana Jaya LRT station. At the car park, I saw a few groups of people, clad in yellow and green. That was when I realised, I was not alone.We looked at each other, with smiles on our faces, as if we could read each other’s mind.Each stop at the LRT station, I could see more and more people in yellow and green boarding the train.
A big crowd went off at Pasar Seni for one of the main meeting points, Central Market. I got out from Masjid Jamek. After meeting my friend at the platform, we walked towards Petaling Street. I could see yellow everywhere, even yellow “Angry Birds”. We headed towards the food stall area for breakfast. All the stalls and restaurants were jam packed. We actually stood while eating.
An uncle from the nearby table offered us an untouched glass of coffee, saying “Miss, this is for you, we ordered extra.” Very warm gesture but unfortunately, I don’t drink coffee hence my friend drank the whole glass.
“It tasted good!” that was what he said.
People wait for the start of the Bersih rally, at Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur, April 28, 2012.It was about 10am when we headed out to Jalan Sultan to join the “carnival”.
People were walking around, singing, playing music with empty containers, chanting, taking pictures, selling Bersih recyclable bags, sitting by the roadside, just waiting for the moment.
We decided to walk farther to the intersection between Jalan Hang Jebat and Jalan Sultan.
We saw policemen forming human walls, but people were still able to cross from the side.
Supporters wearing Bersih t-shirt were seen talking and taking pictures with the policemen. There was a van loaded with boxes of mineral water, a man distributing the mineral water to the people around, for FREE.
It was almost about 11.30am and the sun was right above us. We decided to stop walking and joined the group of people in front of Mandarin Pacific Hotel.Even Yellow Power Rangers was there. The song that caught my attention was “Inilah Barisan Kita”. I was quite emotional hearing myself singing to it, I actually remembered the lyrics.
They chanted “Bersih”, “Stop Lynas” and also “Reformasi”. We talked and laughed as if we have known each other for a very long time.We were told to sit down and people actually did. But I have no idea why there were still cars and buses passing the road, making people sat and stood a few times.I was lucky because I was by the side of the road, not affected by the traffic. Wong Chin Huat came by at about 12pm to give his instructions and speech.
He was struggling to make his voice heard, sounding as if he has been talking loudly for the past four hours.
At 12.30pm, we stood up and started walking, but stopped after about 50m. We sat down again.Balloons, big and small, flying around. After about 10 minutes, we started walking again.I felt really good, despite the heat.
From Jalan Sultan, we walked to Jalan Tun HS Lee and soon to Jalan Tun Sambanthan, towards Kota Raya.I saw two traffic policemen by the road side, resting. The supporters greeted the policemen and shook hands with the policemen. All smiles, no tension.
At about 1.30pm, we were told to “Buka laluan” (make way). It was Ambiga Sreenevasan and a few more committees of Bersih 2.0. Yes, I saw Ambiga. We then walked to Jalan Tun Perak. From the voices of the crowd, I started to imagine how many people were ahead of us. We tried to walk as near as we could towards Dataran Merdeka.
At 2pm, we were still far behind, only managed to get to McDonald’s. We sang “Negaraku” and chanted “Bersih” over and over again. At about 2.15pm, we were told to move back a little and to be seated.
At about 2.30pm, a few people from the front started to walk back, saying that “Anwar kata bersurai. Matlamat dah tercapai.” Eh, I thought we were supposed to sit till 4pm?
So people started to disperse. And we decided to be a little adventurous, walking to the front, till Jalan Melayu, the road between OCBC Bank and Masjid Jamek LRT Station. It was slightly after 3pm when people at the top level of LRT Station signalled us to run. And then I heard the sound of the shooting of tear gas, which sounded like fireworks.
Ah, it’s time to make full use of my equipment. I took out the salt and wet towel, which had been soaked with salt water before I left the house this morning. I ate the salt and poured some on the towel and covered my nose and mouth with it. I started running into Jalan Melayu, heading towards Lorong Tunku Abdul Rahman.
I could see people around me were in tears, coughing, gasping for fresh air. I took out my bottle of salt water, drank and passed to the girl next to me as she was feeling really uncomfortable. I kept an eye on my friend who was behind me and he told me “Just walk ahead, I will be behind.” But the crowd started pushing, feeling panicky and girls shouting. Salt was passed around. Malay, Chinese and Indian, we were helping each other.
Halfway through, the crowd in front stopped walking, and people from behind started to push. Apparently there was tear gas fired in front. So, now we were stuck. There is a small alley on the right. Some said it was a dead end, another person said to go. So, we decided to run into the alley and found out it was a dead end, with the Klang River on the right. We could see people trying to get down to the riverbank and some tried to climb up the wall on the left.
After being stranded there for about 10 minutes, we decided to walk out, knowing that we could not just stay there doing nothing. We walked towards Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman and saw a group of policemen in front of us, by the side of the road.
One of the policemen told us to continue walking and “jangan tengok-tengok” (Don’t look). I managed to peep at the small alley on the right, a few people clad in Bersih T-shirts were surrounded by policemen. After we walked pass the scene, we heard one of the supporters shout at the policemen, and we started running.
In front of us, another group of policemen. This time, I saw a group of five or six policemen attacking a person who’s already on the ground. A few more non-uniformed people tried to save the person. There were people shouting around. A few policemen standing at the junction between Jalan Melayu and Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman told us to continue walking.
We never turned back. Whatever just happened, for whatever reason, it was an ugly scene. As we walked, we could still smell the tear gas. At one point, we could see Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman on the left and spotted a row of FRU, standing still, ready to fire any time. We continued walking and saw people sitting by the side of the road. Several stalls were spotted still operating despite the tear gas.
We stopped at one drink stalls and I saw the sellers’ eyes were red, and yet, they were still doing business. We continued walking out to Jalan TAR, about 100m from the FRU. We could see people sitting by the road side, and some, sitting on the middle of the road and one, lying down.
One guy ran towards the man who was lying on the road, offering him water, thinking he had fainted. But he was just lying there; he had not fainted. It was only 3.45pm, we decided to sit by the roadside and waited till 4pm before we call it a day. A Chinese man came to us, asking whether we wanted to refill our water bottles. Another nice gesture. We wondered whether we would be poisoned, but maybe not today. I did not take up the offer as I still had water with me, but my friend did.
A group of people sat nearby, one of them was smoking. He turned over to me when he realised the cigarette smoke was blown towards my direction, and he apologised. Later on, a man sat down beside me. He was also affected by the tear gas. He was not prepared for the tear gas and was voicing out his dissatisfaction of what had happened.
At 4pm, we decided to leave. We walked to Bandaraya LRT Station to find that the station was closed. Two policemen were spotted behind the shutters, inside the LRT station and a man from the outside asked the policemen why the shutters were down. The policemen told to take the train from the next station at Jalan Sultan Ismail but the man shouted back for them to open the shutters. He pushed the shutters. I dislike the scene, so we left.
While we were walking down the station, we heard the crowd at Jalan Raja Laut were facing another group of FRU in front of DBKL building. Soon, we heard the shooting of tear gas. And again, we took out the towels and salt and started running. We decided to walk to Jalan Sultan Ismail via Jalan TAR, passing Sogo.
When we walked pass Sogo, we saw a group of people fanning a man on the ground. My friend walked over to peep but I pulled him off; it’s time to go home.
While walking towards Pertama Complex, we saw bottles and water flying around in front of the Mara building. Then, we saw a police car drove pass. A group of people threw objects at the police car. That police car managed to flee. A few moments later, we saw a guy jumping on top of a moving car. People again started to throw objects (it was a police car, as what I saw when it drove passed me). We just continue walking and didn’t turn back. A few seconds later, we heard a crash sound. Oh, no!
Ahead, we saw, again, people throwing objects at two traffic policemen on motorcycles. Next, the policemen stopped the motorcycle, facing the crowd behind, his hand near his waist as if wanting to draw his weapon. Oh, no! I did not want to imagine what was going to happen next.
People started to shout and run and we ran for our lives towards Jalan Semarang (between Pertama Complex and Mara Building) and out to Jalan Raja Laut towards Sultan Ismail LRT Station. We then heard ambulance and police sirens from every direction. Whatever just happened at Jalan TAR, was beyond my imagination.
It is saddening and a disappointment that things turned ugly after 3pm. But I am glad I came home in one piece, with no injury except some tan on both of my hands. I thank God and I am very grateful. Want to experience what 1 Malaysia is all about? Come join Bersih 4.0, if there’s one. I will be there, with slightly more experience than the first time. I will not run into a dead end again.- A Humble Malaysian,malaysian insider
Peserta BERSIH buat laporan kekasaran polis...
Sekumpulan peserta perhimpunan BERSIH yang mendakwa menjadi mangsa kekasaran polis tampil membuat laporan polis di ibu pejabat polis daerah Seksyen 8 Petaling Jaya hari ini. Mereka dikumpulkan melalui inisiatif Jawatankuasa Hak Sivil Dewan Persidangan Cina Kuala Lumpur dan Selangor yang menawarkan bantuan sejak 1 Mei lalu.
Enam daripada 19 orang tampil di balai polis berkenaan, kata wakil jawatankuasa itu Chong Kok Siong. Mereka diiringi kumpulan Latheefa Koya, Afiq M Noor dan Fadiah Nadwa Fikri dari kumpulan peguam Lawyers for Liberty. Proses merakamkan percakapan mereka oleh pihak polis dijangka berlangsung sepanjang hari ini.
Seorang mangsa, Mohd Faizal Nurhakim, 26, mendakwa 'dilanyak' kira-kira 10 orang polis - yang sebahagiannya tidak memakai tanda nama - walaupun sudah mengangkat tangan tanda menyerah diri.
"Mereka lanyak saya tanpa belas kasihan. Mereka (10 orang polis itu) pijak kepala saya apabila saya terbaring," dakwanya.
Dibuang ke longkang
Mohd Faizal mendakwa, beliau kemudian ditumbuk serta dihambur kata-kata makian dari polis sewaktu diheret dalam jarak 100 meter ke tempat tahanan sementara di Kelab DiRaja Selangor berhampiran Dataran Merdeka.
"Pukul 2 pagi baru saya dilepaskan dan polis hantar saya ke perhentian bas Jalan Duta," katanya yang diarahkan ke Hospital Kuala Lumpur jika mahu mendapatkan keputusan pemeriksaan kesihatan yang dibuat di Pusat Latihan Polis (PULAPOL).
Seorang lagi mangsa, Jashamsulnizam Md Jani, 27, mendakwa diangkat dan dibuang ke dalam longkang sedalam tiga kaki oleh tiga orang polis berhampiran Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
"Sewaktu saya lari, tiga orang polis tendang saya dari belakang. Saya terjatuh dan mereka angkat dan buang saya ke dalam longkang," ceritanya.
Akibatnya, pergelangan tangan beliau retak dan tempurung lututnya lari, dakwa pensyarah sebuah kolej swasta di Kuala Lumpur.
Dibaling kerusi
Seorang lagi mangsa, Robert Dass memberitahu beliau sempat mengelak kerusi kayu dibaling polis yang menyerbu sebuah restoran di Jalan Tun Perak.
"Kejadian berlaku pada kira-kira jam 3 petang. Saya dan beberapa orang kawan berada di dalam Restoran Jamek sebelah Masjid Jamek.
"Polis membuka shutter restoran secara paksa dan memaki hamun serta menjerit-jerit ke arah orang ramai," kata Robert.
Sementara itu, Fadiah Nadwa yang bertindak sebagai peguam mengiringi mangsa-mangsa menggesa agar satu suruhanjaya bebas ditubuhkan menyiasat semua keganasan polis.
"Kita desak satu suruhanjaya yang bebas daripada (pegawai tertinggi) polis Bukit Aman ditubuhkan menyiasat keganasan ini," katanya.- malaysiakini
cheers.
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