Police today arrested five individuals who were attempting to stop the demolition of a temple to make way for a highway project leaving at least one person injured.

During the incident this morning, about 15 individuals comprising of Hindu devotees, temple caretakers and at least two lawyers stood in the path of a bulldozer and an excavator from destroying the temple.

However, a melee ensued when the police moved in to break up the human wall, which included women, and arrested five individuals.

Among them was P Velu, 30, who was sent to Hospital Kuala Lumpur this afternoon after bleeding profusely due to deep lacerations on his forehead sustained during a scuffle with police officers.

The 60-year-old Muniswara temple near Jalan Ayer Madu in Setapak, northeast of Kuala Lumpur, was located on the path of the soon-to-be-completed Damansara Ulu Kelang Expressway (Duke).

Temple priest P Sivalingam said that DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) had notified the temple committee of the intended demolition through several notices.

At least three unsuccessful negotiations were held with DBKL in the past three years.

The highway developers did offer the committee a 10-square-foot of land to build a new temple at a nearby site. This was rejected as the new temple would be about five times smaller than the existing building.

"Ten-square-foot is only big enough for a decent toilet. The temple needs to serve 800 devotees," said Sivalingam.

No court order

According to eyewitnesses of today's event, human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar tried to climb on an excavator, demanding for the operator to produce a court order for the demolition.

After he was ignored by the excavator operator, Uthayakumar was said to have lost his balance and fell to the ground. He was immediately arrested and hauled to the police van.

His lawyer brother Waythamoorthy accused the operator of deliberately moving his machine, causing Uthayakumar to fall. He said that his brother was almost run over by the excavator.

Three others detained at the Setapak police station this morning include Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth deputy chief S Manickavasagam and two Hindu devotees, J Rishishakar and S Devan.

Tensions ran high at the police station when disgruntled Hindu devotees, who went to support the detainees, hurled calls of "penjenayah" (criminal) at Setapak police chief inspector S Balasubramaniam, who reacted calmly to the crowd.

Several police reports were lodged by those involved in the incident, including a few of the detainees.

Police: Wounds self-inflicted

Contacted later, Sentul district police chief Supt Rodzi Ismail said that the five were charged under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing public servants from discharging their duties.

"We were asked to be there to ensure the safety of their officers," he said, adding that the police were not involved in the actual demolition exercise.

He said that all five would be released on bail after statements had been recorded and confirmed that Velu had been sent to the hospital for medical attention.

"According to my men, the wounds were self inflicted (with handcuffs)," said Rodzi, who was not at the scene this morning.

However, Manickavasagam claimed that a police officer had used a pair of handcuffs as knuckle-duster, causing lacerations on Velu's forehead. Several eyewitnesses have backed Manickavasagam's claim.

Today's incident comes hot on the heels of a heated Parliamentary roundtable on temple demolitions last Sunday attended by more than 160 Hindu temple caretakers.

Many of these temples, some more than a century old, were built by Indian labourers brought in by the British and are now being threatened by development projects.

Over the past three months, Hindu Rights Action Force has received 10 verified temple demolition complaints, mainly in the Klang Valley and Selangor.

Photos courtesy of Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim).