Malaysianinsider reports that, following upon the anti-ISA rally on Saturday, Minister Nazri Aziz said that ‘As long as Barisan Nasional is leading the government, the ISA will not be abolished’.
Well, Nazri, some 5,000 of those who rallied and who were able to make their way to the PAS headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut had this to say to you and your colleagues :
Hidup Rakyat! Mansuhkan ISA! Mampoi BN!
Again and again they chanted this, even as the call came from the Pakatan leaders assembled just outside the PAS HQ for the rally participants to disperse.
Hidup Rakyat! Mansuhkan ISA! Mampoi BN!
And if you think this was a PAS crowd, Nazri, I’d urge you to take a closer look at the photos here and the numerous other blogs that are carrying the news of yesterday’s people power gathering.
Yes, Nazri, as long as BN is in government!
Get your boss to call for a fresh general election a month from now if you dare!
_________________________________________________
Nanda was going to take up an initial position at the Masjid Jamek station whlist several others and I were going to head to Sogo.
At 9.51am yesterday, got the following sms from Nanda : Cops assembled in the parking lot in front of central market
Nanda sent the following sms at 10.08am : Road in front of bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad blocked. SBs around with video cameras.Spotted some PAS people.
At 10.14am, Nanda sent the following : Cops n SB around asjid Jamek area. Spotted at least 1 truck.
Lil Hummingbird alerted me of the following at 10.18am : Heli flying overhead @ sogo
Nanda sms’d again at 10.58am : Arrest at Masjid Jamek. A guy. Cops asked him to open his bag n found t-shirts. I think its unit amal t-shirts
Lil Hummingbird sent this sms at 11.59am : People being arrested near sogo
At 1.23pm, Nanda sent the following : Pasar Seni more arrests. Masjid Jamek effectively dispersed I would say
Nanda sent this at 1.29pm : Reporters are saying they’ll also be moving to Sogo shortly. Masjid Jamek effectively shut down id say
Lil Hummingbird sent this sms at 1.38pm : Checking ID n contents of bags for related materials n arresting at Nat Mosque
This sms from Nanda at 1.39pm : Cops standing by in front of Masjid Jamek waiting for people to come out after prayers
Angel, Danny, Teh and I arrived at Sogo at almost 1.45pm. This is the state that we found awaiting us.
Nanda sent in this sms at 1.57pm : They charged they beat up they arrest. Tear gas fired
I called Norlaila of GMI, who I was to meet at Sogo. She told me that she had been arrested and was being held in a FRU truck in Cheras.
Not good.
Then a sudden flurry of activity on the side of Sogo where the side road linked to Raja Laut at the back.
It only dawned on some of us later that this move by this group of ladies might have been intended to draw away attention to what was to be the first push by many of those at Sogo to begin the march to the Istana.
The rally, for those at Sogo, it seemed, had started.
The cops quickly moved in.
The first move to get to the palace was brought to a halt.
For a while, confusion seemed to set in.
Then, suddenly, without any sound of gun fire, tear gas filled the stretch of Jalan TAR where we were.
Danny later said he suspected that this tergassing was probably done by a plant. Plausible.
Doesn’t matter how may times you’ve been hit by tear gas, you just never get used to it.
Your throat singes, and your eyes burn.
Ordinary folk started to share rock salt and water with the many who, it seems, came unprepared.
Najib, if you chance to read this, this is our version of 1Malaysia, something you and your cabinet will probably never, ever understand.
Then the brute force kicked in.
And then arrests.
And just as some of us started to feel as if, like Masjid Jamek, the crowd at Sogo, too, had been beaten by the cops, a second push to get to the istana took off.
Strangely, though, upon reaching Coliseum, they stopped and, after a while, started back in the direction of Sogo.
Baffled, I asked a pakcik why. He replied that someone in the crowd had given instructions to do so.
My immediate concern was whether this was the work of a plant.
I needn’t have worried.
As this group headed back in the direction of Sogo, another large group, seemingly appearing from nowhere, and also starting from Coliseum, also started to move in the direction of Sogo.
At some point, the two groups merged.
And from this merged group, leadership emerged.
Lil hummingbird sent this in at 2.18pm : Anil reports big time confusion for police now. Thousands instead of moving to Istana r now face to face with police at Jln TAR
The crowd continued in the direction of Sogo.
What was going on? Wasn’t the istana the destination?
Word slowly filtered back.
Destination ‘Istana’ aborted.
The crowd now negotiated into that part of Jalan Dang Wangi that leads into Jalan Raja Laut, whilst the police there could only watch helplessly.
The crowd was now feted to fiery speeches and were told that the rally would not be proceeding to the istana.
It was now about 2.30pm.
Amal unit boys readied the crowd to turn into Raja Laut in the direction of Dataran Merdeka.
to face sheer brute force.
Without any prior warning to disperse, they went to work.
Then it was time to unleash the teargas.
The crowd dispersed.
At 2.42pm, a commentator to this blog sms’d me : This is historic. Bersih’s not the record any more
I caught up with Danny. We’d heard that the order was out to arrest the Unit Amal boys.
We saw it first hand as we headed back to Sogo.
At 3.05pm Nanda sms’d this : In front of pejabat Agung PAS
Nanda again at 3.07pm : Anwar on his way.Road is blocked, bus also stuck
Danny and I caught up with Angel on Jalan TAR and decided to head out to the PAS HQ.
Nanda at 3.24 : Anwar, Hadi etc juz arived in front of PAS HQ
We reached the HQ about 3.30pm, just in time to catch the tailend of DSAI’s speech.
Lil Hummingbird sent this in at 3.25pm : Sivarasa just arrested at Sogo
____________________________________________
My estimate of the crowd at Sogo : 10,000 – 15,000
However, it was not so much the size of the crowd that got to me.
Firstly, the number of youth who turned up and were passionate about the issue. This was encouraging.
And contrary to what I had expected, this was not a predominantly PAS crowd. It was a good mix.
I spoke to some of the youth in the crowd.
This was one Malay youth’s response, which typified the views of the others I spoke to.
“Tak boleh buat tak tahu lagilah, bang. Kerajaan zalim. BN dah tak boleh caya, dah”.
This was a response from a young Chinese lady.
“If we don’t want the ISA, we have to fight, lah. Who else is going to fight for us?”.
There is hope yet for our nation.
Najib, call for fresh general elections next month if you dare!
Sagaladoola
August 3, 2009
My writing on this issue :
Bernama News on Losses Due to Anti-ISA Protests
http://sagaladoola.blogspot.com/2009/08/bernama-news-on-losses-due-to-anti-isa.html
yapsir
August 3, 2009
It is great to read your posting.
After break off at Central, guilding my two pastor friends,we took a simple lunch and decided to walk our way through the O railstation to Centre Market.Another friend directed me to go to SOGO.
A very well mix group of us from railway station moved in through china town and joint in at Masjid India and merged with the group in TAR.But then tears were fired.
There were many people at the back on Jln.TAR waiting for instruction and ready to joint in the march.
Later we were able to move to SOGO, as we waited a while,water tear gas were fired again we had to move into Pertama,and the water shot into the food court too.
Finally,from some of PAS-AMAL news,the march had called off.WE stay a while and seeing the tear gas and water shot at the Jln Raja Laut gathering just at Pertama and SOGO junction.
Water were shot several times at the in between of Pertama and SOGO.
By 5pm plus we dicided to head for home,we met up with many at the Komuter Station,people were tired but happily,excidingly talking about it but a litter regred that we were not able to march to Istana Negara.
Among the story I heard like Melacca had 40 buses came.people were from all over Malaysia were there.I met up people from Kuantan,Trenganu,Kedah,Johor etc.
But thanks GOD no serious injuries.
Take care brother.
yapsir(Henry Yap)
4RAKYAT
August 3, 2009
bro haris,
najis said we could consider holding such rallies/demos in stadiums…
what say u? i somewhat agree.
but still the streets have more impact methinks…
4RAKYAT
Steven
August 3, 2009
don’t Worry brother Haris. We are all with you. I have started to get all my friends & relatives to register for the NEXT GE. And Together , we shall bring down BN once for all !!
Phua Kai Lit
August 3, 2009
Hi Encik Haris
I think the progressive groups in Malaysia need to find out where the “repressive state apparatus” guys get their supplies (surveillance equipment, tear gas, water cannons etc) from. If these are obtained overseas from Western countries, then should ask for help from progressive NGOs over there to pressure their governments to prohibit these companies from selling their equipment to Malaysia.
masjid negara
August 3, 2009
i was at masjid negara marching,5 rounds of tears gas.i would estimate to be around 15 to 20k before being attack at 2.30pm
kwmark71
August 3, 2009
My salute to the Unit Amal Members whose bravery in the name of democracy,syabas!!!
Sejarah dicipta pada 1hb Ogos 2009…Let’s kick BN out from the Parliment next GE!!!
Hidup Rakyat!!!
Mangkuk@kwmark
Kg Melayu,Pg
PeoplePower
August 3, 2009
Hidup Rakyat! Mansuhkan ISA! Mampoi BN!
Melvin
August 3, 2009
Haris,
It seems that Najib and his group is resistent to listening to the people’s grouses. The logic is simple – fear of losing power.
Street protests alone will not help out much, but instead everyone should think and get BN to come to the reality by beating them in their own ball game. That is, understanding their psyche, modus operandi, and hitting them at the worst part.
That was a milestone in Malaysian democratic rights history and on the people’s level, although it is not as great as BERSIH.
oA
August 3, 2009
.
Chinese and Indians should stop being apathetic and be game.
Hope the next one the crowd can be more racially apparent.
Nice job … get the ball rolling again and wait for momentum.
.
4RAKYAT
August 3, 2009
i am malaysian chinese.
i am guilty as charged. too busy ‘cari makan’, to ‘kiasi’….
4RAKYAT
Eric
August 4, 2009
4RAKYAT,
next time you’ll know where to be.
1Black Malaysia. Democracy First. Elections Now.
bs
August 3, 2009
The more BN doesn’t want to face the true feelings of the rakyat, the faster it will fall.
Bro, if you play gin rum mi, this guy Nazri is like having a joker card in your hand. He is going to help make us game faster. We will thank him when PR forms the Federal Govt. Come to think about it, we actually have quite a few jokers in our hand.
george
August 3, 2009
Agreed with Melvin, we need to deploy Su Tzi’s Art of war… understand ur enemy and try to hit them at their most unprepared manner hard…
eaglewings
August 3, 2009
I was with a group of people stuck at the Kerinchi LRT station. All trains service was abruptly stopped. There wasn’t any public transport available into the city.
khookhoo
August 3, 2009
Saw you running around the police in front of Sogo, lol. Good to know you made it out safe. I can now officially say i am no longer a tear-gas virgin
joric
August 3, 2009
I am in US and i was following the protest thro’ anilnetto’s live coverage. My heart goes out to all the protestors for the courage and sacrifice. A thought also spring into my mind – we need to be more prepare, should we have a checklist for all protestors in future, i thought they should have goggles & mask to protect their eyes & nose. Maybe someone should do drive to collect goggles which could be used for future cause. Count me in.
Ismandy Hamza
August 3, 2009
As much as I would like to attend the anti-ISA rally in KL, but sadly I couldn’t as I live outside of KL.
But to show my support here, I would say that the draconian law MUST GO.
For whatever reason, ISA mut de abolished.
No more insurgency. So why must the govt keep it? Unless it brings a lot of political mileage to UMNO and BN to use it against anyone or any party who dares to speak up or voice out their opinion against them?
‘1Malaysia my … @#$?!!!”.
viveg
August 3, 2009
Bro.. had fun on the day at Sogo. It feels good that to see many teenagers and elderly makciks, coming on board to support the rally. The demographics of people rising against injustice is expanding. Even the older generation of Indian ladies who usually have a soft spot for BN is showing their anger. Hope this momentum will keep going.
ericind
August 3, 2009
Hi Bro,Let us be more practical,defeat BN from now on start with PERMATANG PASIR by election,c u there…
Ex Neutral
August 3, 2009
My salute to the Unit Amal boys. The were taunted, aggresively pushed by the sheilds of thr FRU and yet they restrain from reacting. The way they drag arrestee is very rough. One officer was even heard saying “I don’t care” and yes that speaks for a lot of them.
The predictable reports from the bn linked media is insulting, they think we stupid.
And the laughble part was from the people from gerakan youth who chicken out AGAIN with the whatever reasons.
But my utmost to the people who were arrested. PR should do whatever necessary to get the release.
Najib, call for fresh general elections next month if you dare! – Not in a million years.
oioi
August 4, 2009
the police targeted those unit amal boys… as they knew, these boys were tough… they can lead the people with their will and determination.
some of them had been arrested long before the protest begun…
as for those police… just boycott them… don’t sell when they want to buy… hahaha… don’t talk to them… don’t invite to kenduri, makan-makan… hahahah…
Eric
August 4, 2009
Unit Amal are quite simply made out of steel. Without them, this would have come to nought. Just like Bersih. Kudos to them!
Ghostbuster
August 3, 2009
I suggest we have one more on 31st August. We have few words ready: Hancur Hancur, Hancur BN. Tangkap Tangkap, Tangkap Najib. Come out a few of this and all shout at Stadium, which is full of our people. The sound combined has a very big effect.
May be not words above… try other that should send our message across more politely. Some suggestion:
1. Polis polis, polis ganas.
2. Undi undi, undi besok.
3. Kuasa kuasa, kuasa rakyat.
and more.
Protest is a lose-lose game. Nobody wants to go into it. Unless BN is still so stubborn.
Ghostbuster,
Great to meet you at the rally
Ben
August 3, 2009
Thank God for strong leaders like you. We have to recruit more voters and those who are sideliners and convince them to make a stand. When the GE comes we will show again People Power. The sooner the better.
Taikohtai
August 3, 2009
BN has got to be sh*tscared in face of another massive rally, especially when it has something to do with their unIslamic policies! Yes, when the hearts and minds of the hoi polloi are no longer at tangent to the ruling party’s aspirations, it can only spell the end of the regime.
PDRM is such a poofy organisation today, worse than pondans as they only dare to face with unarmed protesters but close doors in downtown Chow Kit road pondoks! PDRM = Pondans DiRaja Malaysia!!
mauryaII
August 3, 2009
“PondansDiRajaMalaysia!” just about describes the police farce in our country. Why won’t it be when we have the most corrupted PIG in the country lending his support with his pondans to the other corrupted UMNO/BN goons in the country.
Najis=Nazri=Hishamuddin aka Alblur.
Richard Loh
August 3, 2009
Haris bro,
Another group comprising of between 5k to 8k was not widely reported. I join this group walking from the central market and national mosque. My report can be read here.
Yow Chuan
August 3, 2009
Getting goosebumps just watching the pictures!
Yes, there’s still HOPE for this nation!
Anaklabu
August 3, 2009
My Father, My brother in law, and my younger brother (who is under 18) were detained during the protest. all because they accompanied my old father during the demo. As for me I was with my friends playing real “Police and Thief” game for full 3 hours with bunch of FRU and Police. Damn good, we got to voice out or dissent and at the same time it was fun too. Who ever afraid to turun pls put in mind that demo could be very entertaining and amusing.
Eric
August 4, 2009
Wira-wira your family!
mickey
August 3, 2009
Good job!
Organize more of this and see what you get in the next election.
It shows PR are poor organizers for public rally. And you can’t call it peaceful if you disrupt traffic, public outings and trading.
Can the public now trust the country to organization with street mentality?
ISA is for probably 0.000000001 % of the population.
If we have organizations that threats the security of the country like recent bombing in Jakarta ( please note – the alleged mastermind is Malaysian), these people could walk free if technicality of the courts fail to remand these group.
So why are we against these? To make Malaysia a safe haven for terrorist?
It is such irony when the party which talks about freedom and oppression is actually oppressing the affected public in that area. Duh!
Rahman
August 3, 2009
I agree that the youngsters on Saturday were the good signs. Salutes the tudung ladies, the makciks n pakciks. I wonder if the 20K crowd estimated by Mkini is the total numbers at the various locations…Nonetheless it was a very good Saturday.
Rahman,
I think Mkini’s estimate of 20k was in respect of the Sogo crowd.
Did not take into account the folk at Masjid Negara & Masjid Jamek.
JJays
August 3, 2009
Hat’s off to Unit Amal and GMI.
Kep the spirit burning, “Kita Kuburkan Umno/BN di Ptg.Pasir.
We have give clear msg to Umno/BN that, they are wrong to assume that Umno is getting stronger by day.
We have tell them, their days are numbered.
teo siew chin
August 3, 2009
The PAS-Unit Amal Warriors – SALUTE !!!
These are the people I will totally trust to protect the rakyat from harm! Well done, well done.
Antares
August 3, 2009
After studying a wide spectrum of video footage and photos posted online, it has become apparent that a large number of rank-and-file police were secretly sympathetic to the rakyat and tried in small ways to help. If they were genuinely hostile there would have been serious injuries, even deaths. For that small mercy, I am grateful that only the top echelon of the PDRM needs to be removed. The rest can be retained and retrained to truly serve the rakyat, not just the capitalist elite.
BN Bangsat Najis
August 3, 2009
BN ******* Najis govt issues UNLIMITED FREE MONEY for themselves and cronies.
Dear Rakyat,
This is what we do. Everybody, PRINT MONEY, break jails and overthrow BN ******* Najis.
We Millions of People Power can overthrow ******* Najis overnight. Believe in the Power of Hidup Rakyat!
Anti-ISA citizen
August 3, 2009
I hope many of the UMNO and BN MPs will be judged and die and spark of more by-election to take over more MPs seat.
I hope many of those FRU and Police who are used by Mampoi UMNO to realise what sin/wickedness they are doing and turn against the govt together with the citizens to vote the govt out.
Mampoi BN, Mampoi UMNO, Mampus ISA , Mampus BN.
Bigjoe
August 3, 2009
Najib is so screwed. He is going around saying the protest just inconvenient. The fact of the matter he comes out at the end of the day to be THE LOSER with his party..
Seriously, let just pain Najib’s photo with the word LOSER – again and again until he calls and election and gets kicked out.
Najib has already done his best, he can’t do any better than what he has done for the first 100days. Its all downhill for him from now on. That is why his message does not change. He does not know what to say. He does not know what to say betray his lack of clarity in leadership and his plans. He does not have a good plan. He thought all he had to do was be better than Badawi. He does not realise being better than Badawi was so a few years ago. He does not realise even since 308, more, much more is expected of him. He can’t under promise and get away with it..
Najib is done. Mark my word…
StevenO
August 3, 2009
Somebody should start up a website to put up pictures of those rogue Police who misbehave. Police are human too. They have friends and relatives so, they will not want to be seen in a bad light.
I know it’s not fair that their families have to suffer the consequence of their misbehaviour but why should we let them abuse us in the first place?? We, the taxpayers are paying their salary.
hanisma
August 3, 2009
I wonder where was ‘The King of All Frogs’ at tne time when the gallant men and women of GMI showed their resent against the implementation of that Draconian law. Guessed he must be hiding under one of his wives’ sarong. The GMI had done their part, so what happened to the supporters of ‘Pro-ISA, as been promised by their Frog King? Balless, spineless, gutless supporters of Umno/Bee End!!! They can only bark but dare not bite!
shar101
August 3, 2009
According to WJK, only 30 Pro-ISA wimps turned up.
http://wengerkhairy.blogspot.com/2009/07/ketua-pemuda-baru.html
Wonder if warrior 231 showed his face too but who the heck cares.
ahmad
August 3, 2009
may the true one wins until the end
Peter
August 3, 2009
On Merdeka Day. Selangor State should organise a rally along the streets of Shah Alam to Klang town and let us show show the crowd that we can get compared to the Merdeka rally in KL. PKR must do this to show what Malaysians can do on Merdeka day. Let is create a new Merdeka rally from Shah Alam to Klang. Man we are celebrating Merdeka day , they cannot stop us then and we can carry any banner that reflects the aspirations of every Malaysinas.
The NGOS, the PKR state govts all can join in to make this Merdeka rally a bigger event than the one in KL.
I could not come around for this one as my BP was way too high for me to be running around
scarlett
August 3, 2009
i would like to suggest to all M’sian especially the Malays to take ‘red n black’ as their theme colors for hari raya.. let’s all together celebrate the coming hari raya in red n black throughout the country.. let all malaysian, umnoians-idiots, bn-the ignorant najib rosmah-the ugliest couple, know that m’sians have decided and united..
we don’t need ur *%#@ 1m’sia
the queen
August 3, 2009
tu ah, memang betul Najib cakap protest buat inconvenience, tapi bilang dia kalau dia buat kerja betul2 rakyat tak protest ah…buat kerja dulu betul2 baru orang boleh aman…merepek…
At least korang okay ah…ada jugak jalan keluar…try singapore…ko belom sempat nak pikir pasal protest terus dah kena masuk lokap, bunuh diri sudah…keep on fighting, jangan jadi macam orang singapore yang memang pemalas and dah tak kuasa psl dah biasa sangat hidup senang
Balasi
August 3, 2009
I’m so proud of all those involvrd in 108, specially Badan Amal who just showed us what character they are made of. SYABAS to all of u and SHAME to PDRM DOGS.
anna brella
August 3, 2009
Super photos and great reporting of the protest here!
My view of the democratic score is:
Rakyat+GMI+PR = +10; UMNO/BN+Pewaris+ISA = -10
It would be good if someone can confirm the number of protestors at the rally as there is no consistency/conformity to that number at present.
I agree with StevenO’s excellent idea of naming and shaming rotten PRDM apples in public.
By law, police personnel MUST display their unique personnel number prominently on their uniforms when they are on public policing duties.
Perhaps some members of the Barisan Rakyat team shoud focus on PDRM personnel behaviour at these peaceful public protests and record/video instances of unreasonable/ott use of force against unarmed protestors.
Then publish the evidence of the unacceptable abuse of police powers in reputable blogs with the police numbers (and names?) of the recalcitrants displayed.
Perhaps the evidence can also be used in future when these unprofessional police personnel are prosecuted by the Rakyat to prove their abuse of police powers.
To provide balance and a compare and contrast experience, those PDRM personnel being professional in their duties can also be selectively captured on film and placed alongside the rotten apples to drive the Rakyat’s point home.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
Graduan UiTM
August 4, 2009
Syabas and Tahniah to Unit Amal.
“Makin kita ditekan, semakin kita melawan!!!”
Hawkeye
August 4, 2009
Sounds like you have been having fun, my friend. We had it a bit easier as compared, but still were hit by the canon and gas twice.
Check the turnout count here: http://hawkeyejack.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-isa-more-than-100000-turnout.html
berwin
August 4, 2009
i personal NOT to abolish the ISA . if the next ge we kick BN out we can use ISA to arrest all the BN member and sent them to KEMUNTING CAMP. syabas MALAYSIA
Pachikan
August 4, 2009
I hope that there will be more of such peaceful demonstrations. The next one, we should be more prepared to counter tear gas by equiping our protesting rakyat with gas masks. Then we don’t have to disperse and run. We should take inspiration from and honour the memory of Cory Aquino, the inventor of Peoples’ Power by winning the military and polis over to our cause. I’m sure there are many amongst them, especially the lower echelon ones, that are sympathetic to our cause. After all once they shed their uniforms, they are also ordinary rakyat and human beings. As ordinary humans they must have their sense of justice. They can be won over if we can convince them that they are joining a JUST CAUSE. They may even drop their batons and shields. With them on our side we can have a peaceful revolution, just as the Filipinos under Cory Aquino did. The corrupt BN government can be forced to quit, just as the corrupt Marcos regime was forced to quit. We don’t have to wait until the next GE. We can do it now. So prepare really well for the next REFORMASI DEMONSTRASI, and tell the whole world about its impending happening. If the whole world sees that even the polis are no longer supporting the corrupt government the pressure to quit will not be just from the rakyat, it will include world opinion, which is much more powerful. If we can achieve this it won’t take much for the non-UMNO MPs to jump ship. We can then have a new clean government that works for the rakyat.
ivanyang53
August 4, 2009
And our Mr Lah says if given more time, he would have repealed the ISA, aiyoh, Mr Lah, when will you wake up lah!
Shakuntala
August 5, 2009
Nearly everyone is calling Saturday’s peoples’ expression, a demo. They are echoing an untruth perpetrated by the “Star” newspaper, which headlined it’Costly Demo’. And of course such-like references by the MSM have become the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
When at the end of the day it was a peaceful march of like-minded persons whose one intention, as well-meaning citizens, was to hand over a Memorandum to the Agong and who were not allowed this earnest wish asking that the ISA be abolished. And nothing else.A simple wish,fraught with good intentions.
Everyone now knows who turned the whole thing into a mess and used tactics to show their invested power.Enough has been written about The Truth re Saturday’s march by the people, for the people,of the people.
For instance when I cheekily took out my mobile and pretended to use it as a camera, at a line of FRU trucks and police in front of the Odeon, who were trying to break up what appeared to be cartons of, I believe tear gas, an FRU walked up with baton poised and shield down and ordered me to go, very angrily. There was absolutely no provocation from me. Then surprisingly he was saying sorry, several times. I had to tell him to keep his sorry and asked what he was sorry about…that I did not need his sorry, before I walked away.
Choose your own size I would say to this man, the next time.
Then we saw and experienced the most heartbreaking event happening right in front of our eyes and were unable to act.
We were locked inside Maju Junction…where there is a DeliFrance. So exhausted were we, that we were having a coffee. Suddenly without warning, a huge massive cloud of tear gas was spreading threateningly and licking its way up the street before spreading itself all around. Then pandemonium occured..a group of young Muslim mothers with children and babies in their arms ran up to the glass frontage of the Maju Junction. They pressed their babies and children between their chests and the glass in a vain attempt to protect any danger to their children. You guessed right, the children screamed, terrified.
From inside locked doors, we were at a complete loss. Apart from gesturing to the mothers to stay where they were, we also tried to ask some people to open the doors to these frantic and tearful mothers. But the normal building police inside ,were nowhere to be seen, at that moment. They were around, we saw them earlier. We even asked one of the boutique owners to get some help to open the doors, but there was no re-action.
Can you imagine,the utter helplessness of a group of us, who were just unable to even offer a little assistance like opening doors to people and tiny children in danger outside, who wanted desperately to come inside.
Finally with tear gas stinging their and the childrens’ eyes, we saw them run for their lives.
Is this not an unforgiveable act? Sad thing is that no reporters or photographers were around at this crucial moment of history. Later we met up with a friendly ‘Star’ woman reporter, who sadly told us her camera had been confiscated. She was resolute, she used a standby digital and carried on.
And senseless persons are now talking about a DEMO by the people…..how low can you get, you who are sitting on so called thrones and judging the innocent.Get your facts right, for goodness sake!
DISGUSTING, DISGUSTING, DISGUSTING.