Malaysian police fired tear gas and water cannons, and arrested dozens of demonstrators yesterday in an attempt to disperse a mass street protest against Draconian internal security laws.
Thousands of police backed by riot squad officers and helicopters cracked down at three rallying points in Kuala Lumpur — two major mosques and a popular shopping district.
Web news portal Malaysiakini said some 200 people had been arrested as police tried to disperse crowds at the rallying points and scupper their plans to march to the royal palace or the city’s Independence Square.
PHOTO: AFP
At least 50 rounds of tear gas were fired and water cannons were directed at a crowd of around 10,000 people who gathered at the Sogo shopping complex in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
An AFP reporter saw at least 25 people arrested, before the huge group began marching down a main thoroughfare toward the royal palace, triggering the police offensive.
Organizers said they intended to present a 10-point memo to the king, including demands for the abolition of the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial.
They were also calling for the closure of a camp in northern Perak State where detainees are held and an inquiry into all deaths in custody and allegations of police abuse of power.
At the national mosque, where an AFP reporter saw at least 50 detained, opposition Islamic PAS Legislator Siti Mariah Mahmud criticized the arrests.
“This is not reasonable. It’s prayer time and this action is a breach of our religious freedom and duty,” she said.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
‘SIGNS OF ESCALATION’: Russian forces have been aiming to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province and have been capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Saturday said that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign. Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a nightly address said that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north. He decried strikes
RSS