'Cops shut out pregnant woman fleeing violence'

Protesters, including a pregnant woman in her third trimester, were not allowed to seek refuge at a police station as thugs began to assault them outside, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) was told today.

At the time, on the night of June 22, a group of about 15 thugs were attacking a group of anti-Lynas protesters, who hadgathered outside the Kuantan police district headquarters in solidarity with 16 protesters arrested earlier that day.

The complainant, Phua Fui Min, told Suhakam that when the violence broke out, the first safe haven she thought of was the police station because of its proximity, but she was shut out.

“I ran to the police and asked them for help, but they shut the gate and shoved us out.

"At the time, next to me was a pregnant woman and they wouldn’t let her in either.

“So this... I feel very bad,” she told Suhakam commissioner James Nagayam, who heads the statutory body’s Complaints, Monitoring and Inquiries Group.

The pregnant woman was identified as the wife of Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung, and was six to seven months pregnant at the time.

'Pats on back for thugs'

Phua was among a group of about 20 activists and Kuantan residents led by Lee and Suaram to complain about police conduct during the fracas, as well as at an anti-Lynas protest earlier that day.

She said amidst the chaos, she was able to get within the police station compound with another man, but was shoved back outside by the police.

“I feel very sad. I feel that the police are not playing their role of protecting members of the public. I don’t know who they are protecting,” she said.

Another activist Ooi Chen Lin (right) claimed that when police finally emerged from the police station to stop the violence, they did so by giving the thugs pats on their backs before asking them to leave.

“Before they left, they threatened that if they had not left, more (of them) would have come,” she said, while acting out the back pats.

She said prior to the start of the fighting, she and the protesters were merely sitting quietly in front of the police station. The thugs then showed up and loudly demanded that they leave.

“Those who refused to get up, they started by kicking them and then I saw my friends getting beaten.

“I got up and whipped out my camera to start video recording, but I was surrounded - I’m not sure by how many - and they started beating me with their fists on my face as well. And my arm was pushed until my camera fell.

“I also saw three of my male friends who were sitting on the floor, beaten and kicked. Glasses were crushed underfoot.

"Other people were slammed into the wall,” she said, adding that she was able to resume recording just before the police intervened.

Kicks and punches

Meanwhile, Himpunan Hijau steering committee member Dr Phua Kia Yaw claimed that during the protest earlier that day outside the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Gebeng, the police had punched and kicked detainees who were already in handcuffs for shouting for an ambulance.

At the time, only five protestors arrested and were sitting in a police Black Maria. But one of them was in a semi-conscious state, mumbling, and unresponsive to calls of his name, due to earlier beatings by the police when he was being arrested.

The semi-conscious victim’s name was Ho Kam Huat (left). He was present at Suhakam today with a medical report from Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, saying that he had suffered “cerebral concussion” due to the beatings.

“There was no police in the truck when we were calling and shouting for an ambulance. We were afraid that he would die because he was already semi-conscious.

“We were all handcuffed inside the truck. The police came up (and said), ‘Why are you making this noise, you want to be a hero?’ and started the beating, inside the truck…

“I was begging them to stop, but they told me not to intervene and stay put,” he said.

Those allegedly beaten in the truck were Ho, Wong Chee Wai, and Wong Chee Wen.

Kia Yaw (right) said the police returned later with another round of beatings when they heard a phone ringing.

“They came up and (asked), ‘You people are using handphones?’ We were all handcuffed (behind our backs) with our handphones in our pockets. We could not do anything.

“‘You people are using handphones? (they) came up, then bang, bang, bang again. Second time. They came into the truck,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chee Wen said the a male police personnel had placed his hand into Ho’s wife’s pocket to retrieve the handphone that was ringing, and he asked Suhakam if that was appropriate.

Commissioner James (left) assured that the allegations of police misconduct would be investigated, but it was up to the commission to decide whether to hold a public inquiry as requested by the group.

In addition, he said Suhakam will be looking into the Lynas issue as well, alongside other projects that supposedly do not have free, informed, and prior consent from local residents.