52 youths charged with unlawful assembly in Klang (Updated)

KLANG: Fifty-two youths, including 43 secondary school students, were charged at the Magistrate's Court here today for being part of an illegal assembly.
The youths, comprising mostly secondary school students, aged between 14 and 18, were charged with committing the offence at the vicinity of four schools, SMK Seri Andalas, SMK Raja Mahadi, SK Simpang Lima and SMK Kampung Jawa around noon between April 20 and April 21.
Charged under Section 143 of the Penal Code, they face imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Forty-nine of the accused claimed trial while a 16-year-old suspect failed to appear at the courthouse.
Three youths pleaded guilty to the offence.
For those who claimed trial, deputy public prosecutor Syed Farid Syed Ali proposed RM3,000 bail with one surety given the seriousness of the offence.
Magistrate Nor Asma Ahmad granted bail between RM800 and RM1,000 with one surety for all accused and fixed July 6 for mention.
Nor Asma also set the same date for the sentencing of the three suspects pending behavioural report from Welfare Department.
Counsels Gerard Lazarus, Dinesh Muthal, S.K Pari and Dev Anand represented 33 of the accused while the rest were unrepresented.
Last month, 18 youths, 13 of whom are students, were arrested for their involvement in Geng 24-related activities.
The arrests came about after two video recordings on April 20 showing a group believed to be members of Gang 24 causing a commotion outside a school in Klang went viral on social media.
The first video shows a group of people shouting and holding banners which read '24' and 'TD4' while the second video shows a cake with the words 'SMK Sri Andalas', '24' and 'Apache '.
Following several operations, police rounded up 43 school students, two college students and eight youths.