Two arrested in Black Democracy 2.0 march

The ‘Black Democracy 2.0’ march organised by PKR Youth outside Parliament today to protest the suspension of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three other parliamentarians, was halted by the police and two protestors were arrested.

The detained were former PKR Youth information chief Lee Khai Loon, who is also the Council Member of Majlis Perbandaran Selayang, and Padang Serai PKR division information chief G. Pravin Nagapan, who is also the son of parliamentarian N Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai).

They were brought to Dang Wangi police station for their statements to be recorded. The two were later released at 6.00pm.

They were among the group of 20 PKR Youth members and supporters, led by its chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin and PKR Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff, who had initially planned to march from Parliament building to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) headquarters, about 2km away.

The march was in protest of Parliament’s decision to deny Anwar Ibrahim his right of defence in the rights and privileges committee proceedings and the parliamentary motion that suspended his post for six months for claiming the government’s ‘1Malaysia’ slogan was derived from ‘One Israel’.

Besides Anwar Ibrahim, three other opposition MPs including Azmin Ali (Gombak), R Sivarasa (Subang) and Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) were suspended for six months for criticising the rights and privileges committee.

Around 50 police and light strike force (LSF) members stopped the march about half way to their destination, warning that it was an illegal assembly under the Police Act.

The PKR Youth members maintained their democratic right to march peacefully and continued on their journey, resulting in a minor scuffle with the police and in the arrest of the two.

Lee Khai Loon explained that there was no public transport available at the premise to go to Suhakam as the police had cordonned off the area. Thus the group had to walk, and that was when the harassment and arrests took place.

Lee also complained of the use of excessive force while under detention in one of the police trucks.

“I was pushed to the ground and my leg has injury and it hurts,” said Lee.

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Video by R. Vijay Kumar, Citizen Journalist