KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Sixteen student activist that were part of the #OccupyParliament sit-in rally have been detained by police earlier tonight.
Student activist Nazrul Nazir said the 16 including three women were picked up by authorities at 10.30pm after a faceoff with Sentul police chief R Munusamy and were brought to the Jinjang police station.
“We were outside the Parliament. The Sentul OCPD ordered us to leave on the grounds that we were less than 50 metres away from the Parliament Building.
“We distanced ourselves and they left for awhile. Suddenly they came back; there were around 40 to 50 police officers and they surrounded everyone. They started arresting all of us; some of us managed to get away,” he told Malay Mail Online.
Nazrul claimed that Munusamy had said they were committing an offence under 124B of the Penal Code by having camped out more than 24 hours outside the Parliament building.
Those hauled in tonight are believed to include University of Malaya Student Council (PMUM) president Ammar Atan, student activist Khairol Najib, Lee Chung Lun and Lau Yi Leong, among others.
The students began their protest yesterday afternoon braving heavy rain that poured throughout the night.
They pledged to keep the sit-in protest on-going until Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak quits his office and the country’s federal lawmakers get together to discuss solutions for various issues plaguing the country.
