Police 'brutality' during Bersih rally on April 28... it could be true.
At the initial stage of the inquiry, unnamed 'witnesses' were made to stand for statements and testimonies before Suhakam. Many doubt their credibility as most of them were pointing at the police for starting the fracas at Dataran Merdeka.
However, when a photo-journalist from The Star, a pro-BN mainstream English paper told the panel about his 'bad encounter with a group of police personnel', we have a lot to ponder now.
“I saw them (the police) beat up protesters, I was scared they might harm me,” said photographer P Puspanathan to the Suhakam inquiry on alleged human rights abuses at the Bersih 3.0 pro-electoral reform rally yesterday.
He related how when on duty in the Masjid Jamek area during the July 28 rally, he saw some officers beating up protesters.
Puspanathan said he feared for his safety when a group of police surrounded him and forced him to delete pictures of officers beating Bersih protesters stored on his memory card.
“When a few of them surrounded me, bad things might happen. I was scared... They asked for my camera, I did not give it to them. They asked for my memory card, I did not give it to them..."
As a journalist, I don't think he lied. He was assigned for the task on that particular day.
However, we still need to dig more into his statements because we must find out what forced the police to act in such a manner. Were the police provoked and threatened?
To Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussin, we are also waiting for the video footage of the 'ugly' rally...
At the initial stage of the inquiry, unnamed 'witnesses' were made to stand for statements and testimonies before Suhakam. Many doubt their credibility as most of them were pointing at the police for starting the fracas at Dataran Merdeka.
However, when a photo-journalist from The Star, a pro-BN mainstream English paper told the panel about his 'bad encounter with a group of police personnel', we have a lot to ponder now.
“I saw them (the police) beat up protesters, I was scared they might harm me,” said photographer P Puspanathan to the Suhakam inquiry on alleged human rights abuses at the Bersih 3.0 pro-electoral reform rally yesterday.
He related how when on duty in the Masjid Jamek area during the July 28 rally, he saw some officers beating up protesters.
Puspanathan said he feared for his safety when a group of police surrounded him and forced him to delete pictures of officers beating Bersih protesters stored on his memory card.
“When a few of them surrounded me, bad things might happen. I was scared... They asked for my camera, I did not give it to them. They asked for my memory card, I did not give it to them..."
As a journalist, I don't think he lied. He was assigned for the task on that particular day.
However, we still need to dig more into his statements because we must find out what forced the police to act in such a manner. Were the police provoked and threatened?
To Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussin, we are also waiting for the video footage of the 'ugly' rally...
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