Bar Council: Police brutality worsens in Bersih 3.0

Anonymous_3f94: If one observes the sequence of the photos ( below ), it appears that the police abandoned their line at the point where the breach was committed. It appears that they were running back on instruction (from above), and to entice the crowd to move forward.

Clearly, this would have been construed by everyone there that the police had invited them into the Dataran Merdeka. Soon after the police moved forward and tear gassed and water cannoned the protesters.

In light of the fact that the police were not wearing name tags or IDs, the violence appears to have been pre-planned in advance by the police, along with their embedded saboteurs. This gave them the excuse to attack unarmed, peaceful protestors.

Jiminy Qrikert: This is not a mere case of 'police brutality'. It was a very well-planned trap to draw 250,000 people into a very small area - 'the killing fields' of the PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police).

Elaborately set with assurances of 'not a security threat', followed by the last-minute denial of use of Dataran Merdeka and then at the very eleventh hour, a legal ban on only the Dataran. It was the honey in centre of a well-laid trap.

When the 250,000 rakyat had jam-packed all the roads leading to the Dataran, the trap was sprung with agent provocateurs urging the crowd to invade the Dataran.

Then, the PDRM pincer-move launched with a frontal attack with water cannons and gas while exit routes were sealed off, leaving the concentration of panicked people no other choice than to suffer the brutality of the police attacks.

Here's what did not happen - the rakyat did not fight back, swamping the police. And here's what BN hoped for - a full-blown riot allowing them to impose martial law and suspend Parliament.

Louis: The writing is on the wall that the powers-that-be wanted Bersih 3.0 to end in chaos and destruction of properties.

Among the crowd in Bersih are mothers with small children, the lame, the blind and old folks who could hardly walk. Do you think that those weak folks are prepared to do battle with the police?

If the organisers had ill-intention, all those folks would be advised to stay home. No, it was not be a violent showdown, but a peaceful protest.

On the other hand, the police were armed to the teeth as if they are facing some kind of terrorists. The patience that they had towards Umno mobs in so many incidents was hardly present.

When the crowd broke through in Dataran Merdeka, they were quick to draw. As a result, the powers-that-be had achieved their aim - to show the world that Bersih is made up of unruly mobs, which very few people believe.

Rakyat Malaysia: In other places like in Penang, all the Bersih rallies were peaceful. In other countries, the Bersih events were peaceful. So why only so much trouble in Kuala Lumpur where the FRU (riot police) and police officers were present? Something for everyone to think about.

Ablastine: When the head is rotten, everything else down the line follows. When the government is made up of rotten, corrupted leeches whose only concern is self-enrichment, we can expect more from their subordinates.

The police force is a disgrace to the country because their leaders were chosen from the worst of the lot. They look upon the rakyat as preys and object of hate.

In good times, they rough you up and demand protection money. How of many of them are already living way beyond their means, especially those of higher ranks.

To the rakyat, PDRM is nothing more than trigger-happy villains in uniform collaborating with the mafia to exploit, prey and maim the helpless rakyat. There is no more respect for them.

Anonymous_3e86: It was a trap to instigate violence and chaos. There were saboteurs amongst the crowd. With emotions running high, some of the protesters followed blindly and breached the cordon.

This gave the police the excuse they were waiting for, to tear gas the crowds. This is the tactic BN will use should it lose the coming GE13 to incite violence, and regain control through martial law like in 1969. We must not let this happen again.

The rakyat must use common sense not to fall into the BN trap and allow the police to use force on the people.

The rakyat must exercise restrain and some common sense to overcome these dirty BN tactics. Otherwise, all the efforts of Bersih and Hindraf will be futile.

Kgen: PM Najib Razak, your party will suffer at the next GE for this unwarranted police brutality against peaceful civilians. You are dreaming if you think this has no effect on voters.

Go on, cheat like you always do. If enough people vote against BN even the cheating will be overwhelmed.

Lim Chong Leong: The police action was meant to inflict pain and cause injury rather than to disperse the crowd. The crowd had no way to escape the advancing police tear gas and water cannon.

And the police charged into the crowd way outside the cordoned area. There is a huge difference between crowd control to maintain public order and the use of force to quell a riot. Here the police were using anti-riot maneuvers to quell a peaceful crowd.

Ferdtan: There goes the trust of the police. We now see the police in a different light. They are more like 'legalised thugs'.

They say to breach the barricade at the Dataran Merdeka is against the law because they had obtained a court order banning the protesters from going into the Freedom Square.

However, it is legal for the police to beat up protesters wantonly without any provocation. Someone higher-up in the police force must take responsibility and resign.

It is a misnomer to name the Dataran Merdeka as Freedom Square. Bukit Aman is certainly not Peaceful Hill. Likewise, it is shameful to call our courts complex Palace of Justice.

Anonymous #70867328: I am 58 years old. I took part in Bersih 3.0 for the future of my four children, aged between 12 years and 21 years.

Initially, I was afraid to be exposed to tear gas. The first experience was quite mild and I recovered within a few minutes.

Later on, there were more and instead of chickening out and heading home, it made me really, really angry and from then on I told myself that was it. Give me all you got and I would take it, recover and go out for more. Do your worst.

Today, I am happy that I did it and took whatever they had to throw at me and still remain standing.

I have no more fear of tear gas or water cannon and will be there if another opportunity warrants.

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