Witness: Police robbed, assaulted me during Bersih rally
UPDATED @ 09:02:20 PM 11-07-2012
A Bersih supporter is surrounded by policeman during the rally for free and fair elections in Kuala Lumpur, April 28, 2012. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — A witness told the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today that a group of policemen stole his Samsung tablet computer and a watch while assaulting him during the chaotic April 28 rally for clean polls in the national capital.
Arshad Abbas, 32, said the policemen had accosted him as he was leaving the "sit-in" protest at Merdeka Square and demanded that he change the yellow Bersih T-shirt he was wearing.
But as he was about to change his T-shirt, the group of about eight to ten policemen suddenly started beating him, he told a three-man panel investigating allegations of violence and excessive use of force by the authorities on the second day its inquiry.
"While I was taking some clothes from my bag, I was surrounded by the policemen and they hit me with their feet and hands.
"Then I noticed a hand, which I am confident belongs to one of the policemen, opening my bag. I lost my Samsung Tab 7.0, a watch, as well as the article of clothing that I intended to change into," Arshad said.
He told the panel he had filed a complaint with the police over his loss but said the items have yet to be returned.
Arshad also said one of the policemen who allegedly beat him told him they were doing so because one of their colleagues had died.
“I was shocked as to why they were telling me such a thing,” he said.
Arshad said he had to get five stitches at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a cut above his right eyebrow as a result of the assault.
The panel, which kicked off on July 5, is headed by Suhakam vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee who is aided by commissioners Professor Datuk Dr Mahmood Zuhdi Abdul Majid and Detta Seman.
