KOTA KINABALU: Another peaceful protest took place at a village under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in Tawau, Sabah, with some 350 people gathering at Kampung Baru Pasir Putih tonight.
But unlike the protest at Kampung Muhibbah Raya on Saturday, where seven people were detained, the police took a softer approach to communicate with the crowd which had started to gather since 8.30pm.
The crowd converged at the main entrance under police barricade to protest the extension of the EMCO at the village to May 12. It was originally scheduled to end tomorrow.
Tawau police chief Peter Umbuas said those present were mostly residents from the village, and they wanted the EMCO to either end soon or for the conditions to be relaxed.
“They requested that even if the EMCO is continued, it should only be focused on houses that have issues with Covid-19 infection,” he told FMT.
“I will bring all their requests to the district disaster operations control centre (PKOB) meeting tomorrow and then we will wait for the decision from the state PKOB,” he said, adding that there were no untoward incidents during the protest.
In a livestream by a Facebook user, Peter could be seen speaking to the crowd using a loudspeaker, telling them the police understood their grouses and promised to communicate them to the higher authorities.
Earlier, another policeman was trying to calm down the people but was interrupted with repeated shouts of “buka” (open), referring to the lockdown of the village.
After receiving assurances from the police, the crowd started to disperse about an hour later. - FMT
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