Sunday January 13, 2013

Police successfully deploy new management method to maintain order during rally

KUALA LUMPUR: The Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally went on smoothly and peacefully with police maintaining a minimal but effective presence to ensure safety and order.

Using a new method of rally management, police deployed only about 200 personnel members none of them from the Federal Reserve Unit and did not mount any roadblock in the city.

“This was done in the spirit of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012,” said Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Ahmad.

Police set up 40 beat points within a 1km radius of Stadium Merdeka to facilitate movement of people and vehicles to minimise traffic congestion.

People gathered at various meeting points here as early as 7am for the event. The crowd, dressed in green, yellow and red, arrived at the stadium at 11.15am while groups from Padang Timur, in Petaling Jaya and University Malaya started their walk to the venue at 11am.

ACP Zainuddin said there was neither any untoward incident nor arrest made during the rally, which started with participants walking to the stadium yesterday morning.

Huge attraction: Leaders of the rally addressing the crowd inside Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur. — FAIHAN GHANI / The Star

Most participants went to designated “check points” before marching to the stadium.

“Police conducted their duties thoroughly to ensure the rally went on smoothly.

“However, there were two cases where two elderly men fainted because the stadium was packed,” ACP Zainuddin said at the police Field Media Centre here.

ACP Zainuddin said the participants cooperated with the police although three conditions were violated: some brought along young children, others carried provocative banners, and the 30,000 limit at the stadium was not observed.

“We will investigate the three infringements but we nonetheless consider the rally to have occurred in a peaceful manner.

“We achieved our goal of having zero casualty, Again, it was in the spirit of the Peaceful Assembly Act.”

Effective policing: Police personnel maintaining crowd control outside Stadium Merdeka.

The orderly situation contrasted with the scenes during the Bersih 2.0 and 3.0 street demonstrations.

With the success of this new operating procedure, ACP Zainuddin said the police would look into using it as the standard for managing future rallies.

On the alleged bomb scares in KLCC and Lebuh Pasar, he said police found them to be a hoax.

On the 80 marshals assigned to the media, ACP Zainuddin said there was no request for their services.

“The marshals were ready to offer assistance to the media but there were no takers,” he added.

Participants started leaving before 5pm, after speeches from Opposition leaders, including PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng.

News

Sunday January 13, 2013

Police successfully deploy new management method to maintain order during rally