Scuffle between SAMM, press after anti-GST rally (WITH VIDEO)
(fz.com) – Soon after the 10,000 anti-GST crowd started dispersing, a group of 200 black clad youths with covered faces from Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) flared torches and conducted their own style of protest.
They were led by Badrul Hisham Shahrin known as Chegubard, and marched from one end of Sultan Ismail building to the other, waving black flags and shouting slogans for freedom of youth.
They claim they were fed up with ceramahs (speeches) and political parties.
As they made their turnback from the other end, they bumped into the photographers and media personnel who were busy chasing them. A scuffle broke out between the youths and media personnel, with a nasty exchange of words and a few blows.
Police and DBKL officers, watching from the sidelines, did not intervene during the scuffle and the group later sprayed anti-GST slogans onto the road.
They then broke into smaller groups and spread out resting on the ground, with some even playing drums.
When met, Chegubard said that he is allowing them to do so because he is allowing the youths to express their protest in their own style.
“These are youths and they have their own style,” said Chegubard, when asked on the usage of flaring torches in a peaceful rally. He also refused to say if all of the group clad in black were from SAMM.
He claimed that he was not provoking, and said that he led the group after the rally because they were fed up with the speeches.
He apologised for the scuffle between the media and the youths and said he will conduct an investigation into what exactly happened.
Chegubard refused to say whether he will be responsible for the actions of the group.
A reporter from Wall Street Journal was seen giving him a lecture on how to respect the media, to which he listened quietly.
Another 50 younger members of the group, when interviewed said they were not from SAMM but marched with the group as they shared the same views on how to hold a street protest.
One of them said, that they are rebelling against all taxes and the system and they are not for any system.
“We are free souls. We protest because we want to,”said one calling himself Pagan Joe, but refused to say why he and his friends covered their faces. They quickly left as they saw police officers approaching.
They were later advised by the police to leave, to which they did after another minor scuffle at the Jalan Tun Perak traffic light with the press when they put up their middle fingers and said nasty things to the media.
