New video: Cop points gun at protester

Syed Jaymal Zahiid

In the 10-second clip, a traffic policeman is seen pointing his pistol at a man believed to be a PAS Unit Amal member.

KUALA LUMPUR: A slew of videos have emerged in the aftermath of last Saturday’s Bersih 3.0 rally, showing both the police and protesters turning violent on the streets.

Today, FMT received a video depicting a traffic policeman pointing his gun at an unarmed protester, adding on to the series of incriminating visual evidence indicating the use of excessive force by the authorities.

In the 10-second clip, from an anonymous contributor, the protester, believed to be a PAS Unit Amal member, is seen trying to lift a red motorcycle amid a chaotic background of protesters appearing to be fleeing from the police.

There were two motorcycles lying on the road. It was not clear if they were the properties of the police.

PAS Unit Amal is a volunteer corp tasked to maintain crowd discipline during rallies.

A few seconds later, a traffic policeman is seen entering the frame with a gun in hand and pointing it towards the activist. The latter is then seen raising his hands as the officer approached him and runs off to join the rest of the crowd.

At that point, two blue uniformed policemen are seen chasing the large crowd away with their hands on their holstered guns in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate and push the crowd backwards.

According to a lawyer, a policeman could only take out his gun if the person before him was highly suspicious or likely to cause hurt.

“So in this case it was wrong for the traffic policeman to do that. In some countries it would have been considered as assault or intimidation,” the lawyer said on condition of anonymity.

Police violence

The video was believed to have been shot along Jalann Tunku Abdul Rahman near the Sogo shopping complex just after a police car was overturned and police and protesters clashed on Jalan Raja Laut that saw scores injured including those from the police.

The clashes occurred after police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators, following a breach of the barricade in front of Dataran Merdeka.

Police had on Friday obtained a court order barring Bersih 3.0 and the public from entering the historic square across the weekend.

Dozens of tear gas canisters were shot on a packed crowd forcing them to retreat north of Jalan Raja Laut while some ran towards Jalan Tun Perak as police and anti-riot squads moved in to disperse the crowd.

Angry protesters later attacked a police car, which then crashed into at least two people, while trying to flee.
After an ambulance took away the injured policemen, the protesters flipped the car over on its side but then fled after tear gas was fired.

Both the authorities and rally organisers blamed each other for the fracas but the police now face more pressure to explain the surfacing evidence of what rights groups described as unnecessary violence used to disperse a peaceful assembly.

Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar had vowed to open investigations on the allegations but said his men made the right move to disperse the rally as a “more dangerous situation could have taken place”.