Friday November 23, 2007

Klang Valley chokes up

By ANDREW SAGAYAM

Bumper-to-bumper: Traffic slows to a crawl due to a roadblock near the Sg Rasau toll plaza on the Federal Highway heading from Klang to Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Round-the-clock roadblocks have been set up in the Klang Valley as part of crime-prevention activities in the lead up to the illegal assembly called by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) in the city this Sunday.

The roadblock operations, which started yesterday, were to screen motorists entering the city centre and to identify troublemakers ahead of the planned mass gathering of Indians outside the British High Commission in Jalan Ampang.

Police said suspicious motorists would be inspected and their vehicles searched.

The public is advised to stay away from the gathering and police will not hesitate to take stern action against those who refuse to take heed of the warning.

“We have received information that there will be criminal activities taking place right up to Sunday’s gathering. From our intelligence gathering, we found that riots and fights had been planned. We are now taking precautionary measures,” said city police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib Baharudin.

He said the roadblocks had been set up at all entry points into the city centre.

“We will continue the operations until further notice,” he said.

DSP Zul Hasnan said Cheras police had rejected Hindraf’s application for a permit to hold the gathering.

At least 20,000 people are expected to take part in Sunday’s gathering and the protestors had been told to dress in orange.

The assembly is to submit a petition with 100,000 signatures to Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a Queen’s Counsel to represent the Indian community in a class action suit against the British government for bringing Indians as labourers to the then Malaya and exploiting them.

The suit, filed at the Royal Courts of Justice in London by Hindraf chief P. Wathyamoorthy in August, seeks compensation of up to US$4tril (RM13.5tril), or US$1mil (RM3.4mil) for every Indian in Malaysia.

In Malacca, Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police had rejected the application for a permit for the Hindraf gathering because “undesirable elements” would be used to disrupt the assembly, STEVEN DANIEL reports.

“I urge the public not to attend this gathering. We will take stern action against anyone who breaks the law,” he said.

He also warned groups not to bring their children to such rallies as this could endanger the lives of the young ones.

“Stern action can be taken against those who put their kids at risk,” he said.

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