After men injured, cops say forced to use water cannons on Chinatown crowd

(Malay Mail Online) – The Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) had to take action against the mob outside Petaling Street this evening when they refused to budge and even resorted to shoving enforcers and pelting them with rocks, police explained today.

Senior Asst Comm Roslan Abdul Wahid, deputy director of commercial crimes, operations and intelligence, told reporters that in a face-off with demonstrators who insisted on marching through the popular shopping hotspot also known as Chinatown, at least two police personnel were injured.

He explained that the route to Petaling Street had not been listed in the permit to protesters and was to be cordoned off, which was why the police had insisted on holding the crowd back.

“The problem here was that there was no leader that could control them,” said SAC Roslan, who was at Petaling Street this evening on orders from the deputy Inspector-General of Police.

“They pushed against the police twice, and the third time, they tried to push against us, our policemen fell back and two, three of them were injured. So we had to push them back to control,” he explained.

In the scuffle, SAC Roslan said several protesters fell and retaliated by throwing rocks at the policemen blocking their entry into Chinatown.

The rocks, however, hit other protesters instead, causing them to react as they believed their friends were being attacked by the police, he related.

“What we did was use a very minimal force just to cool them down and disperse them,” SAC Roslan continued.

He went on to say that earlier during the rally, the crowds that pushed through several police barricades in the Bukit Bintang area had been more cooperative as they stood back when they were stopped from entering Low Yat, which was also cordoned off.

“They only passed through Bukit Bintang, so we facilitated the marching by them to Padang Merbok.”

Water cannons were fired at the large pocket of red-shirted protesters earlier this evening after several negotiations between the police and demonstrators failed to result in the crowd dispersing.

The mob still refused to leave, however, even as the FRU advanced forward.

They only dispersed after they were told to leave by Sungai Besar Umno chief Datuk Jamal Md Yunos, who was called in by the police to help defuse the situation.