2 men are injured after live bullets were fired in the crowd at the Batu Buruk violence in Terengganu on Saturday night (Sep 8).
The clash was sparked when police ordered the crowd of 500 people (some reported 750) gathering at Jalan Sultan Mahmud, close to Batu Buruk, to disperse peacefully at 10pm. The crowd was there to attend a talk organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH), which was held without police’s permit.
Police officer fired live bullets
Terengganu police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ayub Yaakob said that the policeman has fired one shot as act of self defence, while some PAS and PKR spokesmen claim that a few shots have been fired.
According to Malaysiakini, the alleged officer (a constable) had fired 4 shots.
This must be the first time I’ve heard that a live bullet is fired at a riot of this scale around the world. Anti-riot forces don’t use live bullets in general, for fear that it could injured (or killed) innocents during the crowd, for fear that the weapons might be seized by the rioters and cause other violence, and for other reasons.
To be fair… if I am the policeman that was under attack by group of people with sticks and stones during the riot, I would have pulled the trigger if I think my life was threatened. It could be an act of self defence, but under those chaoses… how sure was the police officer that he was firing at the right people? He could miss-fire and ended up wounding those bystanders around instead of those who attacked him.
That’s why… policemen should try their best to stay out of the crowd (especially when they are alone), and they shouldn’t carry guns into the crowd.
Why BERSIH didn’t cancel the gathering?
BERSIH has never given a permit to hold this particular gathering. There are accusations that the police was siding the BN government and offered unreasonable excuse to not issue the permits, which could be true… but that didn’t warrant BERSIH to hold the gathering as planned.
BERSIH organizers should know that police will interfere if the gathering carried on, and that there could be a clash between the crowd and the police. A (Chinese) report from Merdekareview said that the organizers had decided to cancel the gathering before the clash, but did they cancelled it soon enough, or just hours before the show?
If a law is stupid, you try to change it… if you can’t, you don’t break it. The gathering should be cancelled when permits were not granted, or alternatives should be sought.
Conspiracy Theories
PAS came out with a conspiracy theory that the riot was pre-planned by the police and UMNO…
Insiden berdarah di Pantai Batu Buruk 8 September lalu adalah hasil konspirasi jahat dan provokasi pihak polis yang dipergunakan oleh Umno-BN.
Maklumat tersebut disampaikan oleh Pesuruhjaya PAS Terengganu, Dato’ Mustapa Ali dalam satu sidang media yang diadakan di Pejabat Agung PAS Jalan Raja Laut tengahari ini.
Jelasnya, beliau mendapat maklumat daripada Adun Wakaf Mempelam, Abdul Wahid Endut yang menyatakan bahawa terdapat saksi yang telah menyatakan bahawa ia adalah ‘pre-plan’ yang melibatkan antara Setiausaha Politik Perdana Menteri, Senator Dato’ Wan Farid.
“Maklumat tersebut menyebutkan bahawa kira-kira jam 3 hingga 4 petang pada 8 September lalu, sewaktu satu kursus diadakan, seorang polis yang mengendalikan kursus tersebut telah menerima satu panggilan yang memaklumkan bahawa satu ‘huru-hara’ akan berlaku menjelang malam nanti di pantai Batu Buruk dan pegawai polis bertugas yang tidak beruniform dikehendaki memastikan identiti dengan memakai riben,” jelasnya.
Talk is easy Mr Mustapa Ali… prove it.
Update Sep 12 – BERSIH released their own media statement