Hanif panel shown ‘unedited’ videos of Bersih 3.0 rally
Hanif (right) views documents with Datuk Alwi Ibrahim, the panel’s secretary, during a press conference in Putrajaya, June 4, 2012. — Picture by Choo Choy MayPUTRAJAYA, June 4 — Putrajaya’s Bersih investigative panel today viewed over 43 minutes of footage from the April 28 rally as well as events that took place days before the event.
“They (the police) have shown videos that showed the behaviour of Bersih participants... damage of property and items following the rally.
“In short, what was shown to us earlier is a 40-minute video clip. There are 43 clips in total, if shown altogether (it) will be 73 hours... the panel has not seen a lot of the clips, we have to call the police to show us a few angles of the incident,” Tun Hanif Omar told reporters.
Hanif, who heads the government panel, said he directed the police to give a briefing today on how they handled the Bersih 3.0 rally, as well as the standard operating procedure used to “contain” such rallies.
“We are also planning to invite foreign experts from (the) United Kingdom, United States and Canada on how they handle mass rallies in their own countries and what laws are used,” he added.
He said the clip today also showed speeches made by politicians in several states days before the rally “inviting people” to take part in the event.
“Some say what was said was defamatory... this is unclear. We have asked [for] texts of the actual words used to be given to us,” Hanif added.
The Home Affairs Ministry has said will upload a compilation of videos on the Bersih 3.0 rally to its website by Wednesday for public viewing.
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the purpose of showing the compilation of recordings obtained from various parties is to enable people to see the events that occurred during the rally.
When asked whether this Wednesday’s video release would affect the panel’s investigation, Hanif answered, “No.”
