Media personnel covering the Saturday rally will be accompanied by fifty police marshals as part of new measures announced by Bukit Aman today.
According to Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) chief Abdul Hamid Mohd Ali, the upcoming opposition rally will serve as a trial for the new measures, which, should they prove effective, would be adopted as standard police operating procedure.
In a press briefing today, Abdul Hamid said the marshals on the ground will accompany media personnel to areas which are deemed safe to cover, and pull them out when things turn bad.
He said the media tag released by police would enable them to identify journalists better than the media accreditation tags issued by the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry.
However, for those who refuse to wear the tag and follow the marshals, Abdul Hamid said police will still recognise the media accreditation tag, as long as the media personnel do not interfere with police work.
"This (the new measures) is not to dictate and control you (media personnel). We just want to facilitate you," he said, adding this was to also make the rally a more condusive place for the media to work.
"At the moment, this is the best arrangement we can think of.”
[More to follow]
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