Tuesday April 22, 2008
Minor hiccups and a handful of arrests during run
KUALA LUMPUR: Two minor incidents occurred during the Malaysian leg of the Olympic torch run here, resulting in several foreigners including a monk being detained.
At Dataran Merdeka, where the event began, a Japanese couple and their five-year-old son and another foreigner were detained for wearing T-shirts with the wordings “Free Tibet.”
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Human barrier: A group of youths blocking a suspected Tibet supporter from demonstrating against the torch relay in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — Bernama |
City police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman said all of them were detained at about 1.20pm, but were released after their statements were taken at the Dang Wangi police headquarters.
DCP Muhammad Sabtu added that a monk was detained when he tried to escape upon spotting the presence of policemen.
He said investigations revealed that the monk tried to escape for fear of being arrested as he left his passport in the hotel.
Another scuffle also ensued before the run in Dataran Merdeka when a group of Chinese national students took away a banner emblazoned with the word “Liberty” from a 24-year-old woman known only as Gek.
It was learnt that the group hit Gek’s head at least three times and chanted “One world, one dream, one China”.
The situation was defused when another woman calmed the members down and told them not to create trouble.
It was revealed later that the banner did not belong to Gek, but to Hafiz Noor Shams, 26, who said he came to the torch relay “to witness things”.
Asked on his intentions in bringing such a banner, Hafiz said that it was only a one-word banner.
“But they are free to interpret however they like,” he said, admitting that he was pro-Tibet.
In a separate incident, several hundred Chinese national students demonstrated peacefully against the foreign media for casting a bad light on China in its reports when the torch reached Stadium Merdeka at 3.25pm yesterday.
They held banners which read “Stop Media Distortion” and “Respect China’s Voice” while chanting anthems on the sovereignty of their homeland.
Business administration student Yue Hou Min, 23, from Beijing said her country was being made to “look bad” by foreign media such as the BBC and CNN.
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