Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail has denied that Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) bundling of two student activists into a van at Dataran Merdeka to take them  to Dang Wangi district police headquarters amounts to an act of arrest.

NONE "We did not arrest them, we merely took them to the police station and they were later released... We just escorted them to the police station to make a police report about their wrongdoing. They followed...,” he told a press conference at the DBKL headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

"I don't know if this is assumed as arrest, but it was just for a police report. It's not like they were put in a lock-up.”

He said this when asked if DBKL officers have the power to arrest the activists.

‘Occupy Dataran’ activist Mohd Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin and student Umar Mohd Azmi had been taken to Dang Wangi district police headquarters yesterday, after DBKL carried out a raid on their camp at Dataran Merdeka in the morning.

Two groups, student activists protesting for free education and pro-grassroot democracy group Occupy Dataran have been camping out at the iconic square for the eighth day yesterday, and plan to continue staying there until the planned Bersih 3.0 rally on Saturday.

Umar was this morning charged with obstructing a DBKL officer from carrying out his duties while attempting to apprehend Fahmi.

‘DBKL will charge activist’

While Umar's case will be left to the police, Ahmad Fuad said DBKL intends to charge Fahmi once it completes its investigations and receives a support letter from the deputy public prosecutor.

NONE Ahmad Fuad said Fahmi (left) had committed an offence  under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 by setting up illegal structures at Dataran Merdeka.

In addition, converging at the square without the mayor's permission is a violation under the Local Government (Merdeka Square) (Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur) 1992 By-law.

"When Fahmi retrieved the group's properties the night before, he had signed the notice issued by DBKL. This means he understood what he was doing is an offence but his group continued to camp there," said Ahmad Fuad.

DBKL had on Saturday night returned the students’ belongings after temporarily storing these in its truck, to enable a royal concert to be held. It then raided the camp the following morning.

While acknowledging that the Peaceful Assembly Act allows the right to assembly, Ahmad Fuad said this does not provide for Dataran Merdeka to be used as a venue for protest.