The police tonight arrested 14 people who had gathered at the Brickfields police station in support of activist Wong Chin Huat, but they were all released hours later.

Wong was arrested last night to be investigated under the Sedition Act and has been remanded until Friday at the Brickfields police station.

vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 060509 02 In response, a group of supporters and friends of Wong held a candlelight vigil outside the police station as a show of support for the activist.

Eight of them were however arrested by the police for alleged illegal gathering at about 9.15pm after they failed to disperse after a police warning. This was followed by the arrest of six others about an hour later.

This first group of supporters had gathered outside the police station since 9pm and some of them came with candles.

Fifteen minutes later a police officer demanded the crowd to disperse.

He gave them a count of three before ordering the arrest of the eight.

Among those arrested included the Suara Keadilan Chinese edition editor Law Teck Hao, 29.

vigil and arrest in front brickfield polis station 060509 liau kok fah Also arrested were Suaram coordinator John Liu, 26, and a few members of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, including its civil rights committee vice-head Liau Kok Fah, 47.

The others arrested were Melissa Wong Yuet Fun, 25, Temme Lee, 23, Liew Thin Choi, 47, Law Teck Hao, 29, Chan Kim Ming, 34 and Lee King Thim, 41.

They were all taken to the Brickfields police station.

Second round of arrests

After the first wave of arrests, more people arrived at the station.

By 10pm, about 30 people had regrouped and were seen lighting candles again.

Meanwhile, lawyer RH Dipendra's attempts to see those arrested were rejected by the police.

The police then moved in again at about 10.10pm with Brickfields OCPD Wan Bari Wan Abdul Khalid shouting at the crowd to disperse.

bershi 1blackmalaysia pc 050509 teo nie ching This followed by the arrest of four more people, including Malaysiakini columnist Josh Hong and Serdang member of parliament Teo Nie Ching ( left ).

As Hong was led away, he was heard saying, "This is police brutality."

Ten minutes later, two other people were also arrested as they were trying to leave the area in a car.

They were former journalist Lim Hong Siang and another journalist who wished to remain unnamed.

The police have urged everyone, including journalists, to disperse immediately.

As at 10.55pm, the police released a number of those arrested. They included Liau Kok Fah, Liew Thin Choi, Masturah Kamaruddin and Chai Chee Fatt.

According to them, the police took down their personal details but did not record their statements.

By 11.25pm, all 14 have been released by the police without any conditions. The last to be released was Teo.

They were all greeted with cheers and claps by those waiting by the side of the police station.

Also present among the small crowd of supporters were DAP MPs Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang), Lim Lip Eng (Segambut) and Tan Kok Wai (Cheras).

Lawyer Dipendra said that the police had told him the arrests were made to prevent the gathering from becoming larger.