Anwar forum ends in chaos, cops move in

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s first public forum in Lembah Pantai, his first since his release in 2004, ended in chaos here last night.

The police interrupted Anwar 30 minutes into his speech at 11.35pm at the PKNS flats in Kampung Kerinchi.
The PKR advisor was telling the public about his upcoming sodomy trial when six uniformed officers led by Brickfields OCPD, ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Talib, walked into the crowded parking lot where the forum was held.

As the police got closer to the stage, the 500-strong crowd became agitated and started insulting the officers.
At that point, Anwar tried to calm the crowd: “Everybody please calm down. Let me deal with this.”
He tried to recite a prayer when Abdul Bari got on the stage.

“Just give me five minutes to recite the prayer,” Anwar asked but the police stopped him without warning and moved to grab the microphone away.

This caused momentary chaos as Anwar’s men rushed to protect him from being apprehended.
Abdul Bari looked visibly worried when the crowd became agitated and began chanting, “Reformasi!”
After 10 minutes of heated arguments with Abdul Bari, the veteran politician was then allowed to be escorted into an apartment in a nearby flat.

The police, including Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Mohamad Sabtu Osman, then ordered the crowd to disperse as a small group of FRU personnel began to line up near the parking lot entrance.
The organisers also tried to ease the tension and asked the supporters to leave peacefully.
“Please calm down. They are only doing their jobs. Please leave,” one of the organisers shouted.
Twenty minutes later, Anwar came out smiling from the apartment and walked to his car.
The car drove off while the remaining few remaining shouted, “God is great!”
A distressed-looking Nurul Izzah, Anwar’s daughter, criticised the OCPD for stirring up public emotion.
“I think it is a clear provocation because you certainly do not have to do that. We stress again this is merely supposed to be a briefing.

“This is terrible because it showcases how politics has gotten involved in police dispensing their duty,” she told reporters here.

The Lembah Pantai MP also argued that they were supposed to have been allowed to hold the talk because it was PKNS land.

“We should have been able to use the hall (of the PKNS flats) but it was denied by the Umno leadership here.

“Since we were not given the hall, the OCPD said that it was fine to hold the talk here (in the parking lot) but a permit was not given,” she added.

Abdul Bari later explained that it was Anwar who provoked the police to act.

“We were okay in the beginning but with the presence of Datuk Seri Anwar... his speech was political in nature which was not in line with why they gathered.

“So we were forced to act,” he said.

He also stressed that he had warned Anwar to stop before the police moved in.