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Saturday November 10, 2007

Police disperse illegal assembly


KUALA LUMPUR: Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of more than 4,000 people at Jalan Tun Perak here when they tried to march towards Dataran Merdeka for an illegal assembly, said Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

He said the police were forced to use tear gas and water because the crowd refused to disperse when instructed by his officers to do so at 2.30pm Saturday. The tear gas and water cannon was only used at the Masjid Jamek meeting point.

He said 245 people were detained for questioning but were released later after their statements were recorded.

“We exercised restraint in our approach and only resorted to tear gas and water cannon to disperse the gathering,” he said, adding that no tear gas or water was sprayed into the Masjid Jamek mosque.

The gathering was organised by a non-governmental organisation called The Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (Bersih). It is a group of 60 non-governmental organisations supported by five Opposition parties and the rally is to call for free and fair elections.

Later, a handful of opposition leaders and Bersih handed over a memorandum to a palace official at Istana Negara at 3.55pm. The document urged the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to intervene to ensure a fair and just election.

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