Nothing to Hide 2.0 organisers responsible for participants’ safety: IGP

(The Sun Daily) – Inspector-General of Police Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the organisers of the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum are responsible for the safety of those attending last Sunday’s event.

“The organiser should be well versed about the Peaceful Assembly Act and they have so many lawyers with them … shouldn’t they be aware of the act that clearly says the safety of the participants is their responsibility?

“The organiser should have checked and screened the participants before letting them into the hall,” he told reporters at a handing over duties ceremony here today.

Khalid said 13 men have been detained over the fracas.

“We will go after the organiser once we are done with the suspects who caused the trouble,” he said, adding that the organiser failed to comply with the Peaceful Assembly Act.

On Sunday, pandemonium broke out after chairs were thrown and shoes flung on stage as former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was speaking. Two flares were ignited in the hall.

The organisers were forced to escort Dr Mahathir and other VIPs out of the Selangor Youth and Culture Complex in Shah Alam, bringing an abrupt end to the forum.

Dr Mahathir was answering a question on the Memali tragedy at the forum, a slipper was suddenly hurled at him. The former prime minister was not hit by the slipper or injured in the incident.