'Police threw rocks, bottles, metal objects at protesters'

The police were seen throwing bottles, stones and metal objects at Bersih 3.0 supporters during the April 28 rally in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Loh Kok Swee, the seventh witness before the public inquiry conducted by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), said the actions were countered by the rally participants.

"There were several groups of police, with about 10 to 20 people each. They were also shouting at the people,'Come and fight!', and chasing after the participants.

"The participants were running away from the police. There was plenty of shouting and both parties were throwing things at each other. The participants were throwing bottles, and so were the police," said Loh.

Loh, a professional in the software support industry, said a group of police personnel "chased" rally participants into alleys as he huddled at the nearby Masjid Jamek LRT station, which had been locked down from 3.30pm.

The police, he said, were carrying "peculiar" metal objects and it appeared that they had brought these along with them.

Throughout the course of these events, the participants shouted to the police to go back, but their calls went unheeded.

Boot imprint on the back of witness

Loh added that he was "beaten up" by the police, leaving numerous injuries and marks on his back, most notably"boot prints" of several officers who had assaulted him.

According to him a group of 10 police officers stepped on him, leaving numerous bruises on his back, chest, face and neck.

This was corroborated by a medical report from Hospital Kuala Lumpur, where he was treated after several hours in detention at Police Training Centre (Pulapol) on Jalan Semarak.

"They punched me, then they shoved me to the ground. Then, they mainly started kicking me and stomping on my head. This lasted about one minute," Loh related, adding that he was assaulted for wearing the yellow Bersih T-shirt.

The blows, he said, caused him to suffer a temporary loss of vision. He was then held by the arms and the police tried to tug off his T-shirt but they were not successful.

On the way to the Selangor Club behind Dataran Merdeka, where the rally participants detained were held temporarily, Loh said he saw about 50 police personnel verbally assaulting those arrested.

The Suhakam public inquiry is investigating human rights violations during the clashes that occurred after police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse nearly 100,000 demonstrators during the Bersih 3.0 sit-in protest when the barricade in front of Dataran Merdeka was breached.

Another witness, Suhaimi Suratman, 31, told the panel that he suffered a "broken nose" when he was "surrounded and beaten up" by the police.

Suhaimi said he was helping to hose down a group of rally participants "suffering burning sensations" from the chemical-laced water cannons fired at them when some 20 police personnel surrounded them.

He was arrested and taken to a holding facility behind the Royal Selangor Club, where they were held for about an hour.

Suhaimi, the eighth witness before the inquiry, recounted that those detained were not allowed "to pray or even use the toilet".

"When we asked, they (the police) would curse and insult us. When we protested against what they were doing, they started beating us," he said.

He recounted that a Chinese woman, who was also arrested, requested to use the toilet in order to change her sanitary napkin, but she was ignored.

"Batu (PKR) MP Tian Chua was also arrested. He then argued with the police on the law and only then were we allowed to pray and use the toilet," Suhaimi added.

The panel is headed by Suhakam vice-chairperson Khaw Lake Tee (above, right) and assisted by commissioners Detta Samen and Mahmood Zuhdi A Majid.

The inquiry will resumes at 9am on July 23.