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An anniversary rally was organised this year, not only to commemorate one of the biggest protest marches held in Malaysia, but to also celebrate the release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), who had been held in detention without trial. What transpired that evening turned out to be much more than just a candlelight vigil that had been planned. By Daniel Chandranayagam
Last year, on November 10th, 40,000 Malaysians attended the BERSIH Rally, the civil society coalition for a clean and fair elections. The coalition started out as a Joint Action Committee for Electoral Reform, formed in July 2005. Now, the coalition’s objective is to push for a thorough reform of the electoral process in Malaysia, including a freer and fairer press.  According to a blog report: Whatta day!! If you were expecting a cool “Walk for Justice”-type scene, you were in for a big surprise!! It was no walk in the park…. - 40,000 people - 4000 Police - Dataran Merdeka was sealed off by a wall of Policemen. - Police fired water cannons and tear gas at Masjid Jamek. - Roadblocks on ALL roads leading into KL. - 29 people arrested, 24 released - The cops could not stop 40,000 people from marching from KL city centre to the Istana Negara to hand over the memorandum to the Agong [the King]. An anniversary rally was organised this year, not only to commemorate one of the biggest protest marches held in Malaysia, but to also celebrate the release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), who had been held in detention without trial. What transpired that evening turned out to be much more than just a candlelight vigil that had been planned. According to blogger Antares: Got a call from a friend who said the cops had forced her to turn back at a roadblock, so she decided to go home… Polis patrol cars were cruising up & down and the crowd started walking slowly towards the PJ Civic Center. Decided to WALK WITH RPK (literally) and when I got to the Civic Center, the Red Helmets were already lined up and beating their shields to scare people. Polis sirens were wailing just for effect. It appeared they had been instructed to intimidate & terrorize the peaceful rakyat gathered there simply because we value democracy and love this nation too much to allow it to be turned into a pirates' lair by a bunch of Scumno scoundrels. Apparently, there were roadblocks throughout Petaling Jaya, the suburbs on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. A vigil to free Raja Petra Kamaruddin had been held in a field in the suburbs every week since his detention. Since his release, the vigil was to be held together with the BERSIH one-year rally. KKitSam says: … i realized that the police had roadblocks all over PJ, blocking cars to the field in front of Amcorp Mall. I then parked my car near MBPJ building and walked there. Apparently the police didn’t stops me going there but i saw them questioning those who wore FREE RPK/I AM WITH RPK shirt. Many had gathered at the field. Angela told us that the police had asked us to disperse because we didn’t have permit to gather at the PUBLIC PARK. The police also said we need to be at a closed area, not OPEN AREA. The turnout was very good, even with roadblocks closing all the roads for cars, a few hundreds managed to walk there and gathered in front of the Amcorp Mall at the car park. By 9pm, FRU [Federal Reserve Unit] has lined up and pushed the peoples into the mall. News reports state that the crowd dispersed from the field to a nearby commercial area, where a popular multi-purpose hall, the Civics Centre, was located. At the Civic Centre, blogger and witness Chin Yau Chia wrote: Reached Civic centre, greeted Marina, and the short ceremony begun. Both of us was standing outside the crowd. We heard Tony [Pua - Opposition MP present at the rally] said that if there's no BERSIH rally, he will probably not been elected. Then we started singing “Negara Ku” [Malaysia's national anthem], when we are about to finish, FRU charged us. It seems that they have specific targets. I saw them chasing after a young Indian guy, and got him finally. We quickly walked away as we are not able to help at that instance. A few FRUs passed us by, but they did nothing to us. Some plainclothes, one Chinese plainclothes, was shouting at us chasing us to leave the venue. So now I know, our Police force is used against the orderly people, people who are seeking for justice, not to combat crime. The pandemonium appears to have occurred while a crowd of about 100 citizens were singing the national anthem. The police walked into the crowd to disperse them midway through the song. ICFJ trainee citizen journalism vloggers, Lesly Lee and Christine Chan, caught the following clip. READ MORE HERE: http://globalvoicesonline.org/
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