DAP wants Umno to be held accountable for the fusillade of eggs and stones with which two of its assemblypersons had been pelted at a meet-and-greet event in Merlimau, Malacca, last Saturday.
“The
fact that the violent attack by the red-shirted mob was from the group
where Perkasa and Umno members were gathered requires the Malay party to
fully answer for this ugly violence,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan
Eng said in a statement.
Jasin Umno and Malacca Perkasa have confirmed that their members organised and attended the protest in front of the venue where the high-tea event was to be held, though both claimed ignorance of the rioting by some in the crowd.
Some have tried to explain away the violence by claiming that one of the protesters was hit in an earlier accident, but this was strongly denied by the DAP assemblypersons.
In the incident, assemblypersons Khoo Poay Tiong (Ayer Keroh) and Tey Kok Kiew (Banda Hilir) claimed that a group of nearly 300 red-shirted individuals from Perkasa and the Jasin Umno Wanita and Youth wings had gathered outside the venue.
The
assemblypersons alleged that their cars were pelted with stones and
eggs, resulting in smashed windscreens, broken mirrors and punctured
tyres as protesters attacked them while they were leaving the site.
The incident, Lim said, followed the despicable acts of other pro-BN groups that harassed Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreneevasan by performing a “butt dance” and holding an illegal beef burger stall protest outside her house.
These constituted not only an invasion of her privacy and sexual harassment, but also religious disrespect, he noted.
He lamented the fact that the former Bar Council president has been vilified as if she were a greater threat to the nation than drug dealers or child kidnappers, despite no criminal offence on her part.
Khoo and Tey had earlier said that several prominent Umno leaders, including Jasin MP Ahmad Hamzah and three assemblypersons in the latter's constituency were at the scene when the tumult began.
“The
fact that the violent attack by the red-shirted mob was from the group
where Perkasa and Umno members were gathered requires the Malay party to
fully answer for this ugly violence,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan
Eng said in a statement.Jasin Umno and Malacca Perkasa have confirmed that their members organised and attended the protest in front of the venue where the high-tea event was to be held, though both claimed ignorance of the rioting by some in the crowd.
Some have tried to explain away the violence by claiming that one of the protesters was hit in an earlier accident, but this was strongly denied by the DAP assemblypersons.
In the incident, assemblypersons Khoo Poay Tiong (Ayer Keroh) and Tey Kok Kiew (Banda Hilir) claimed that a group of nearly 300 red-shirted individuals from Perkasa and the Jasin Umno Wanita and Youth wings had gathered outside the venue.
The
assemblypersons alleged that their cars were pelted with stones and
eggs, resulting in smashed windscreens, broken mirrors and punctured
tyres as protesters attacked them while they were leaving the site. The incident, Lim said, followed the despicable acts of other pro-BN groups that harassed Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreneevasan by performing a “butt dance” and holding an illegal beef burger stall protest outside her house.
These constituted not only an invasion of her privacy and sexual harassment, but also religious disrespect, he noted.
He lamented the fact that the former Bar Council president has been vilified as if she were a greater threat to the nation than drug dealers or child kidnappers, despite no criminal offence on her part.
Khoo and Tey had earlier said that several prominent Umno leaders, including Jasin MP Ahmad Hamzah and three assemblypersons in the latter's constituency were at the scene when the tumult began.
Ahmad, when contacted, denied his presence but refused to comment further on the matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment