Author: P Ramakrishnan
Publication: Aliran.com
Date: November 25, 2007
URL: http://www.aliran.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=358&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=11##
Aliran, at its 31st annual general meeting
held in Penang today, has expressed its horror at the heavy-handed way the
police responded to the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) assembly in Kuala
Lumpur this morning.
According to an Al Jazeera correspondent who
witnessed events, "police fired water cannons and dozens of rounds of
tear gas into the faces of the protesters, turning the demonstration into
a street battle."
Video footage by the station shows the appalling
methods employed by the police in dealing with the crowd. The authorities
have in effect criminalised the freedom to assemble peacefully - a right guaranteed
by the Constitution.
We are worried that this incident, coming
just 15 days after the Bersih assembly to demand electoral reforms, shows
that the authorities are displaying absolute disregard for constitutional
guarantees. Then, as now, the police used water cannons and tear gas against
a peaceful crowd.
At the Aliran AGM earlier today, P Ramakrishnan
was re-elected as president of the social reform group. Also elected were
Dr Francis Loh as honorary secretary, Dr Mustafa Kamal Anuar as assistant
secretary, and Anil Netto as honorary treasurer.
