Police flayed for ‘grotesque use of force’
The Bar Council says the use of force was disproportionate and excessive.
KUALA
LUMPUR: The breach of the razor-wire barricades by protesters cannot
justify the police’s “disproportionate and excessive” response during
the Bersih 3.0 rally yesterday, the Bar Council said today.“The Malaysian Bar is appalled at the abuse of the legal process and grotesque use of force by the police in connection with the Bersih 3.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday,” Bar Council vice-president Christopher Leong said in a press statement.
“Although the organisers of public gatherings must bear some responsibility… this does not and cannot excuse the response of the police,” he said.
Leong said the crowds that had gathered for Bersih 3.0 reflected a broad cross-section of Malaysian society, and were peaceful.
“The police were initially restrained, although they did try to stop people from reaching various pre-announced meeting points.
“However, the attitude of the police underwent a sea-change at 3pm,” Leong said, adding that the Bar Council had deployed over 80 lawyers and pupils-in-chambers to monitor the goings-on.
“The reported breach of police barricades in some areas does not justify the police unleashing the full force of their arsenal upon the crowds that were peaceful.”
Contrary to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s assertion that the men-in-blue acted professionally, Leong said that the police “do not have the maturity, discipline and restraint required of a professional force”.
Court order defective
He also said that the court order barring the public from Dataran Merdeka is “arguably defective in law due to a lack of specificity”.
Leong said that there was no need to obtain the order ex parte (heard from only one party), as there had been ample opportunity for the relevant parties to be heard before deciding if such an order deserved to be issued.
“In addition, the order was obtained with respect to a situation of the authorities’ own making, by their unjustifiable denial of access to Dataran Merdeka,” he said.
He added that it was important to bear in mind that the home minister had previously announced that the Bersih 3.0 rally was not a security threat.
Leong also said that despite getting the order, police “proceeded to disrespect the order” when they closed additional roads and restricted access to other areas not covered by the court’s order.
“Closing the roads and restricting access gave rise to a tense situation that contributed to the unnecessary violence that occurred,” said Leong.
He said the Bar Council monitoring teams reported witnessing the use of an array of heavy-handed tactics by the police.
These, he said, included “the indiscriminate discharging of multiple rounds of tear gas without any obvious provocation, and arbitrary use of water cannons. Police fired the tear gas directly at the crowd.”
“They also manoeuvred their firing pattern to box in the participants rather than allowing them to disperse quickly. This is not action to disperse, but is instead designed to attack, a crowd.”
Leong said when items were thrown at the police, they stooped and threw them back.
Lack of cooperation
He said the monitoring teams also witnessed “numerous acts of police brutality, such assaulting arrested persons” including the media, both local and international.
He added that the confiscation and/or destruction of their photographs and video recordings, indicated that police were attempting to “cover up” or prevent a full and accurate record of the rally.
Leong also said police also showed a general lack of cooperation towards the monitoring teams, and were hostile in their attitude and approach at times.
However, he stressed that the Malaysian Bar does not accept the belligerent conduct shown by a number of the participants.
He said the “lack of restraint and proportionality” was similar to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011.
“Instead of displaying action to calm the situation, they instead aggravated it and contributed to the escalation of the conflict,” he said.
Leong said the Bar Council noted that yesterday’s events stemmed from fundamental problems related to the electoral roll, and the lack of confidence in the integrity of the electoral process in Malaysia.
“The government’s response and actions during the Bersih 3.0 rally gave an indication of whether the new legislation will be perverted and abused in its use and implementation, where the wide powers vested in the authorities call for measured, proportionate and mature exercise. The events of April 28 do not bode well in this regard.”
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