PR claims BN-police conspiracy at assembly
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is now alleging that the violent attacks they were subjected to during yesterday’s chaotic assembly sitting were a part of a carefully thought-out conspiracy by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to pull wool over the eyes of the media.
Ousted Speaker V. Sivakumar told a press conference today that the BN’s clever plan was to create a “blind spot” for the media before launching their physical attack on the PR assemblymen.
He also lashed out at Perak police chief Datuk Pahlawan Deputy Comm Zulkifli Abdullah for denying in the press that the PR lawmakers had been roughed up in the basement parking lot of the State Secretariat yesterday.
“All the media (without assembly passes) were blocked from entering through the gates of the secretariat building, right? They placed the police and the federal reserve unit personnel at the entrance and the media were blocked from entering.
“Why? Because they had already planned to attack us in the parking lot and they knew that the media standing outside would not be able to witness it,” he said at a press conference at the Perak DAP headquarters here.
Sivakumar, who drew a map of the state secretariat to illustrate his point, explained that the PR assemblymen experienced the first sign of the conspiracy when upon entry past the secretariat gates, they refused to follow the route to the state assembly hall that the police were leading them to.
“We wanted to use the lift at the back and not the one to the left side, through the parking lot. They tried to make us turn back but we kept walking.,
“So, when we entered, instead of following the police escort who was leading us to the left, we walked straight to the back,” said Sivakumar.
At the lift, he said, several policemen tried to grab his songkok, which was a part of the official Speaker’s ceremonial robe.
“That was the first block. Furthermore, the lift there was already locked and jammed. So we had to retreat eventually,” he said, adding that that was when the PR assemblymen went back to the secretariat’s entrance to complain to the media.
“And then, the police came out saying ‘no, we are not blocking you from entering, please come in again’. So we went back inside,” said Sivakumar.
This time however, the PR assemblymen had no choice but to follow their police escort.
“They told us to follow them to use the side lift and explained that the other lift was spoiled. Now we know why they told us that. They wanted us to walk through the basement parking lot because their men were already stationed there, waiting,” said Sivakumar.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
