Malaysiakini 7.44pm: Hindraf to submit petition in London
Excerpt:
After six hours of confrontations in the streets of Kuala Lumpur today, the police eventually allowed Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) to submit the petition but the offer was rejected.
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P Uthayakumar, Hindraf's legal adviser, said the petition would be delivered to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in London instead. The 2,000-strong crowd outside the British High Commission then dispersed following pleas from organisers.
HINDRAF RALLY PHOTOS - CLICK HERE
VIDEO 1 FROM YOUTUBE/AL JAZEERA - CLICK HERE
VIDEO 2 FROM AL JAZEERA & STATEMENT FROM ALIRAN: CLICK HERE
VIDEO 3 FROM AL JAZEERA: Interview with MIC's SK Devamani (watch and get ready to puke) - CLICK HERE
STAR Online VIDEO - CLICK HERE
PIX FROM AL JAZEERA - CLICK HERE
This came in via SMS at 7.04am from a reliable source:
(Translated from BM) "Tens of thousands of Hindraf supporters have gathered around the vicinity of KLCC/Jln. Ampang. Police have just now begun shooting tear gas and water cannons."
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Got back about 2pm.
It wasn't a rally - it was total disorganised chaos.
30,000 unarmed people facing off with 1000 police with gas and water power.
It was raining tear gas and water cannons. I was almost hit by a hail of tear gas cannisters aimed DIRECTLY at the crowd. Some people threw the cannisters BACK at the police. Chaotic scene full of acrid smoke. Couldn't see, couldn't breathe, tears and snot streaming down my face - tear gas really sucks.
The petition could not be delivered - ALL roads leading to Brit Hi Comm were blocked by walls of FRU.
Reports from Bar Council Urgent Arrest Task force say that 700 have been arrested.
MalaysiaKini says:
According to Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar, police fired tear gas at those sleeping in Batu Caves temple at 4am. Unconfirmed reports said about 700 people were arrested there.
(see full report below)
UPDATE: 400 arrested at rally: Malaysiakini 5.38pm:
According to the Bar Council team of observers, police detained more than 400 people during the rally today.
Lawyer Edmund Bon told Malaysiakini that more than 400 people are being detained at the Jalan Semarak police academy (Pulapol) while at estimated 69 others are detained at the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters.
Meanwhile, the police exercised their duties with obvious signs of restraint, when compared to the many past brutal crackdowns on public dissent.
(I DISAGREE! Compared to the BERSIH rally, the police were absolute brutes. firing tear gas and water cannons indiscriminately.)
There were several reports of police personnel beating Hindraf supporters.
However, inspector-general of police Musa Hassan told Al Jazeera in a live telephone interview that the police had exercise restraint in controlling the crowd.
"We were restraining ourselves not to use force. There was no body contact," said Musa, who was heavily rumoured to have overseen police operations in a helicopter.
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The leader, Uthaya Kumar was reported to be around, but was unable to deliver petition nor mobilise anyone toward the Brit Hi Comm.
The protestors were gathered but with no direction.
Read Malaysiakini blow-by-blow report below.
HINDRAF RALLY PHOTOS - CLICK HERE
LATEST:Al Jazeera report - click here
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/11/25/nation/20071125105316&sec=nation
Street demos not supported by government and MIC, says Samy Vellu
BERNAMA
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/NewsBreak/20071125124358/Article/index_html
Yeah - your frickin policemen showed us that.
Al Jazeera Report:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/53685CBD-40D4-4AC3-B354-73BBC2DA7D51.htm
Malaysiakini: 30,000 Hindraf protestors rally in KLCC
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75250
About 30,000 protesters demonstrated under the shadows of Kuala Lumpur's iconic Twin Towers after their efforts to petition the British High Commission was thwarted by the police with tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon.
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The protesters had attempted to gather outside the high commission early this morning but thousands were pushed back by the riot police to outside a two-kilometre radius of the venue.
Crowds quickly grew at various points in the city, and were blocked by police and Federal Reserve Unit officers.
An estimated 10,000 gathered along Jalan Ampang, near Hotel Maya, with a further 5,000 on Jalan P Ramlee just before Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC).
Another 10,000 demonstraters were at the Jalan Tun Razak - Jalan Ampang interchange.
About 5,000 people were stopped at the Jalan Ampang and Middle-Ring Road cross section.
The protesters – a mix of young and old Indian Malaysians - seemed to have come from all over the country.
At 10.00am, the crowd along Jalan Ampang, near Hotel Maya, were addressed with loudhailers by Hindraf leaders, including P Uttayakumar. PKR information chief Tian Chua and DAP leader Ronnie Liu also addressed the rally.
At 10.30am, the Hindraf leaders ended their speeches. But thousands of protesters continue to mill around the KLCC areas playing a cat-and-mouse game with the police water cannon.
However at 11am, the crowd has moved from KLCC to edge closer to the British High Commission. Thousands faced off riot police at the key Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak intersection near Ampang Park.
At 1pm, after negotiations with the police, Uttayakumar arrived to give a short speech and urged the crowd to disperse peacefully. The crowd was seen walking back down towards Jalan Sultan Ismail, away from the British High Commission.
'This is outrageous'
Hindraf leader A Sivanesan condemned the police for turning Kuala Lumpur into a war zone.
"Things are getting out of hand. We blame the police. They have beaten women and children. This is outrageous," he told Malaysiakini.
Lawyer Haris Ibrahim, who led a 10-member Bar Council monitoring team, was stunned by the heavy-handed police action against the protesters.
"I'm not happy with the way the police are handling the crowd,' he said.
DAP member of parliament M Kulasegaran was also upset with the crackdown.
"Over the last 50 years Indian have been marginalised in this country. And we now want the same rights as enjoyed by other communities," he told AFP.
"They have no right to stop us from protesting today. This is the will of the people," he added.
Malaysiakini; Tear gas fired at defiant protestors
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75246
Hours before the protest organised by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is due to take place, the police have already begun firing tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse crowds in three areas in Kuala Lumpur.
The protesters defied the police's 'arrest on sight' order as they turned up in the thousands to join the demonstration.
The police fired a volley of tear gas at Jalan Ampang at about 7.40am today to disperse a large crowd who had gathered there. The area has been declared a curfew zone by the police.
Earlier, the police also used tear gas to disperse a crowd which gathered at Batu Caves and the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) areas.
According to Hindraf leader P Uttayakumar, police fired tear gas at those sleeping in Batu Caves temple at 4am. Unconfirmed reports said about 700 people were arrested there.
Uttayakumar also said that the police attacked a crowd near Maxis Tower in KLCC, firing at least 15 tear-gas canisters. About 20 were said to be arrested with some suffering from injuries.
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Despite roadblocks and a tight police cordon to seal off the city, thousands of Indians from all around the country have arrived in Kuala Lumpur since last night.
Some of the protesters were already at Jalan Ampang near Hotel Nikko and Ampang Park - a stone throw away from the British High Commission - early this morning.
Despite repeated firing of chemical-laced water against the 5,000-strong crowd, the protestors appeared defiant and refused to budge.
However, by 8.30am the police have successfully forced the crowd to move out of the area, many of whom congregating near the National Heart Institute along Jalan Tun Razak.
Meanwhile, another group which has gathered near Tabung Haji building was pushed back by the volleys of police tear gas to near the United States embassy further down Jalan Tun Razak.
By 9am, the police numbering about 1,000 have cleared most of area in the vicinity of Ampang Park and the British High Commission of protestors.
UPDATE 9.30am, 10,000 in KLCC: The protesters are split into three major groups - about 3,000 south of Jalan Tun Razak with the police pushing the crowd back into Jalan Kia Peng and Jalan Bukit Bintang.
Another 3,000 are north of Jalan Tun Razak near the National Heart Institute. Many of these protesters are moving to KLCC to join the third group.
Meanwhile, the crowd in KLCC has surged to between 10,000 and 15,000.
The protesters - a mix of young and old from all parts of the country - were being addressed with loudhailers by Hindraf leaders, including Uttayakumar. In the bid to disperse the crowd, the police fired tear gas into the defiant crowd every 10 minutes.
The rally has been declared illegal by the police, who have also obtained an unprecedented court order to prohibit people from taking part in it.
Large groups of people have gathered at various spots around the city centre even at dawn - all hoping to break the police cordon to march towards the British High Commission at 10am.
Jalan Ampang - where the high commission is located - and three other roads have been closed since 3am to stop the crowd from arriving at the protest venue.
Also closed are two LRT (light rail transit) stations near the area - the Ampang Park and KLCC stations.
Al Jazeera analysis:
Racial tensions simmer in Malaysia
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1A70BC9F-153D-4553-9B6C-2310BD395A80.htm
Al Jazeera live news:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1EBB4C7F-7F2E-4257-A04C-56678862E31A.htm