26 detained near Parliament House police barricade

Twenty-six people were arrested by police as they demonstrated in front of Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

They were among 200 people from several NGOs including Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) and Anything But Umno (ABU), who gathered in front of the building to demand the resignation of the heads and members of the Election Commission (EC).

The situation became tense when the group tried to breach a police barricade some 800 metres from the entrance gate to Parliament House.

However, the protesters did not succeed in getting through the barricade, which was manned by no less than 300 policemen.

Twenty-six were detained in 11.10am incident, including student activist Mohd Safwan Anang.

The number included eight who had earlier surrendered to the police, including ‘Aunty Bersih’ Annie Foo, SAMM founder Badrul Hisham Shaharin and student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim.

Those arrested are to be taken to the Dang Wangi district police station for “processing” before being sent to the Jinjang detention centre.

PAS' Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad received a memorandum from the protesters outside the gate to Parliament and he urged them to disperse.

The remaining 50 people in the group dispersed at 12.20pm on police orders and have gone back to Padang Merbok, where they had been camping since last Saturday, to await further instructions from their leaders, especially ABU head Haris Ibrahim.