Lawyer claims he was attacked by cops

A lawyer who served as an observer at the Bersih 3.0 protest yesterday said he was attacked by police officers who continued beating him after he had been detained.

Mohd Haijan Omar, who was observing the protest on behalf of Lawyers for Liberty, was on his way to the parking lot in front of Reggae Mansion Hostel at Jalan Tun HS Lee when he saw several police officers pursuing fleeing protesters at around 7pm.

“I saw the police chasing the protesters. I was just standing there, I didn’t know whether to go to the left or right because it was just chaos in front of my eyes.

“Then they said something to me, and I replied, ‘Pardon me?’ and then they just started to charge at me, I was caught off-guard,” he said.

Mohd Haijan was clad in a yellow T-shirt with a white shirt on the outside during the protest.

However, he had removed the outer layer of his outfit as he was going home, and speculated that this may have been a possible reason why he was beaten up.

“They (two officers) started to whack me even after I told them I was a lawyer. Then another three officers came and they whacked me even after they had subdued me,” he said.

When he was being taken to Dataran Merdeka where all the detainees were being held, two more officers hit him again.

“I asked whether I was arrested but they didn’t say anything,” he said.

As a result, Mohd Haijan said he suffered a cut on the side of his left eye and a swelling at his jaw, on top of bruises throughout his body.

He was later taken to the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) at Jalan Semarak to be processed.

“Pulapol was totally a different world, there they serve you food and you wait for your number to be called,” he said.

Mohd Haijan has since lodged a police report yesterday over the incident.

Student activist's mum hospitalised

Meanwhile, Independent Student Activists Group (Kami) deputy president Khalid Ismath’s mother, Faridah Abdul, was hospitalised after being allegedly being stomped on during the protest yesterday.

When contacted, Khalid said he was leading student activists at Dataran DBKL at the front of the group, while his 50-year-old mother was located in the middle.

“When police fired tear gas... she became short of breath and she fell, her head hit a rock.

“After she fell, police chased protesters and many people knocked into her, then the police came and stomped on her, my mother lost consciousness and only awakened last night,” he said.

This, Khalid added, was conveyed to him by eyewitnesses who were near his mother during the chaos.

She was admitted into Hospital Kuala Lumpur at 4pm, added Khalid, and police said Faridah may have suffered intestinal rupture.

“My mother is still weak and cannot move. She can only lie on the bed, her speech is also slow and she is still suffering a headache,” he said.

Khalid added that the family is awaiting scans of Faridah’s intestine is if a rupture is confirmed, surgery will be necessary.