PKR vice-president says authorities cannot act against peaceful assemblies
KUALA LUMPUR: The police have been accused of abusing the law by hauling up Pakatan Rakyat politicians over the massive but peaceful street rally in central Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
The police had no cause to take action against politicians of Parti Keadilan Rakyat as the rallies had passed without incident, said N Surendran, MP for Padang Serai, and vice-president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
Yesterday, PKR Kelana Jaya division chief Saifullah Zulkifli was picked up by the police after the rally had dispersed. This morning PKR Youth leader Nik Nazmi Ahmad, the Selangor assemblyman for Seri Setia, was arrested over the rally.
Surendran said that under the Peaceful Assembly Act, police could not take action against the participants of a peaceful assembly.
He accused the police of “twisting the law” by resorting to “inappropriate provisions of the Penal Code” such as section 143. He said Section 143 was only applicable to public assemblies with a violent or criminal motive.
Party vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar, daughter of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, has been called in for questioning over a KitaLawan rally in February, as well as Perak PAS youth treasurer Mohd Fakhrul Razi Mokhtar.
“I haven’t done anything wrong, I was only exercising my democratic right to freedom of expression,” he told Malaysiakini.
Thousands of people took part in a march from Sogo shopping centre to KLCC mall yesterday without incident.
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