A participant of a candlelight vigil at Dataran Merdeka on Thursday night has lodged a police report over physical injuries sustained allegedly at the hands of five police personnel who lifted and dragged her into custody.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member Chong Yee Shan (above) also said Kuala Lumpur police had denied arresting the candlelight vigil participants, but their actions implied otherwise.
When contacted, Chong, who was among 31 participants hauled up to Dang Wangi district police station, said her demands that police state their ground for arrest were ignored.
The police instead insisted that all the participants would be taken in for "documentation" purposes and Chong, who refused to move, was eventually lifted off the ground and dragged into a waiting Black Maria by five women personnel.
"They dragged me until my shirt was lifted up and my pants pulled down, exposing my underwear.
"After that, I was shoved into the Black Maria.
"Because of the police's violent action, I sustained several bruises on my left and right arm, shoulders, back, neck, wrists, fingers, ankles and other parts I could not identify.
"My handphone also fell on the ground during the incident and the camera was broken," she told Malaysiakini.
A team of nearly 50 uniformed and plainclothes police officers were on standby at Dataran Merdeka since about 8pm on Thursday night in anticipation of the vigil hosted by Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat, the organiser of the recent #Lawan protest.
SSR's spokesperson Mohd Asraf Sarafi had delivered a speech in memory of all those who died of Covid-19 while the group laid roses on the ground.
Asraf previously said police had moved in to disperse the participants despite their readiness to leave peacefully without any incident and cooperate with any further police investigations.
The police, in an attempt to disperse the gathering, had divided the group between 17 men and 14 women, while media personnel were instructed to keep a safe distance.
Another participant, Selangor DAP Women's Wing secretary Nalina Nair, similarly said the participants were never formally informed of their arrests, either at Dataran Merdeka or Dang Wangi district police headquarters where they had their statements recorded.
"Since there’s no official arrest, I told them I will leave the Dang Wangi police headquarters and come back tomorrow to collect my IC.
"Of course, they said no and didn’t allow me to leave.
"After asking again and again whether I was being arrested, they handcuffed me to a comrade who was also constantly asking the same question.
"We shared the same handcuffs, no physical distancing," said the Petaling Jaya City councillor.
Both Chong and Nalina confirmed that the police had seized their identification cards and mobile phones, the latter a restriction to their rights to seek legal counsel and inform a next-of-kin.
Online portal The Vibes on the night of the incident quoted Kuala Lumpur police chief Azmi Abu Kassim, who denied that lawyers were prevented from seeing their clients.
The portal also quoted Dang Wangi police sources who said all 31 individuals were not under arrest.
Despite police denial, lawyer Rajsurian Pillai said their actions showed there were constructive arrests against the participants, by use of force to constraint their movements.
In this situation, he said the participants' movements were restricted and they were forced into the Black Marias.
"A few of the police officers said the participants were not under arrest, but yet at the same time, they were not allowed to leave.
"Also, if they were not arrested, then why were they not allowed to meet their lawyers?" asked Rajsurian.
Rajsurian was only one of two lawyers allowed to meet with the 31 vigil participants, from a larger group who gathered outside the Dang Wangi police station.
All 31 individuals were released at around 1am on Friday.
They were each slapped with RM2,000 compounds - totalling RM62,000 - for violating regulations preventing demonstrations during the pandemic. - Mkini
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