PKR has uploaded three video clips onto YouTube that show a rowdy crowd bearing Barisan Nasional flags harassing opposition leaders at a ceramah in Johor Bahru last week.
VIDEO INSIDE
PETALING JAYA: Video clips showing Umno members harassing PKR leaders and preventing them from delivering a ceramah in Johor Baru last week have been uploaded onto YouTube, said PKR communication director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad today.
He told reporters that the three video clips would make it impossible for Umno to deny that they were not behind the Jan 15 assault on the group, which comprised PKR leaders such as himself and PKR Johor Bahru division leader Tan Poh Lai.
“[Umno] cannot deny that this is their voice, this is their people,” he said prior to screening the video to reporters.
“This [violence towards Pakatan leaders] is ongoing, and I am disappointed that Umno’s highest leadership have not voiced out their opposition towards this,” he added.
The first video clip, which was slightly over a minute long and taken at night, showed a large and rowdy crowd of aging men, youths and even children noisily pushing and shoving the outnumbered PKR leaders from all sides.
Many of the attackers could be seen holding large flags bearing the unmistakable BN logo, lending credence to Nik Nazmi’s claim that the ruling coalition was somehow behind the attacks.
“This is when we were about to enter [the ceramah premise through] the second entrance. We were stopped as we tried to enter on foot,” explained Nik Nazmi as the first video was shown to reporters.
“The person with the spectacles and round head is me. The person in blue will attempt to strike me…he was trying to provoke me into retaliating and turning this into a violent incident,” he added.
In the second clip, which was 2.07 minutes, the PKR leaders had entered their vehicle but were unable to budge because the crowd refused to back off.
“In this video, we were in the vehicle and trying to leave the area, but even then they were doing all sorts of things. We can’t even get out of the area,” said Nik Nazmi.
“We can’t move forward, we can’t reverse the vehicle,” he added.
Meanwhile, children could be seen laughing, grinning, dancing and making obscene hand gestures at the car’s occupants.
“These are Umno’s youths who truly love Islam and the Malay race,” quipped Nik Nazmi.
“People of all ages are here. Utusan Malaysia complained that there were children at the People’s Uprising Rally, but even here there were many children,” he said.
PM must explain
PM must explain
After a few minutes into the video, the police managed to push the crowd back and the car was able to move. But one man could be seen stubbornly gripping onto the vehicle’s windows until police finally pried his fingers off.
“The man is perhaps not very sane. As we were about to leave, he still wanted to stop us and hold onto the window,” remarked Nik Nazmi.
The third video, he said, took place after they had lodged a police report at the Majidee police station and were returning to the area to take their items while escorted by the men in blue.
“There were still many people there, but because they were shocked that we actually came back…and accompanied by the police, they were unable to do much,” he said.
But Nik Nazmi said that the car suffered many dents after being kicked and punched by the crowd of some 50 people.
The group were also unable to carry out their ceramah as planned – something which could have been avoided if there were more police at the area, he said.
But he added that the police were generally cooperative that night, and the investigating officer was now looking into the incident.
“I hope that Umno president Najib Tun Razak, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Samad can state their stand on the matter and make it clear that they reject political violence and intimidation,” he said.
The video clips can be viewed here:
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