Malaysian police tear gas, scuffle with protesters

From The Associated Press
By JULIA ZAPPEI

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Riot police charged demonstrators with batons and fired tear gas Saturday to disperse thousands of people marching in Malaysia’s largest city to protest a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

People began massing at Kuala Lumpur’s main mosque, a shopping mall and a train station Saturday morning in defiance of government warnings that police would crack down on demonstrators, who are pushing leaders to scrap the Internal Security Act, which allows the imprisonment of people regarded as security threats. Police said many thousands had taken to the streets, with some news Web sites putting the count as high as 20,000.

Police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water to disperse the crowds shortly after they began marching toward the national palace. The protesters — who chanted “Reformasi,” the opposition’s slogan for political change — had planned to submit a petition to the country’s king, the constitutional monarch, to denounce the security act.

Witnesses said police wielding batons charged the protesters and scuffled with them. Many people ran into alleys and shops nearby to avoid being arrested.

“The police are really brutal,” opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim told reporters at the protest. “This clearly shows (the government’s) intolerance to any dissent. … We gather here today to fight a cruel law.”

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