Police pay surprise visit to Bersih office
PETALING JAYA: Police paid a surprise visit to the Bersih 2.0 office here on Friday morning over the recent protest in front of Parliament on Wednesday that was organised by the electoral watchdog NGO.
In a statement issued to the media, Bersih said two police officers came to their office to record statements from several Bersih 2.0 members in relation to the protest.
"Around 10am this morning, two police officers from the Dang Wangi district police headquarters showed up at Bersih 2.0's office and asked to enter the premise.
"Upon entering the premise, they insisted on recording Bersih 2.0 executive director Yap Swee Seng's statement under Section 9 (5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 for involvement in Wednesday's protest against the unfair and unjust redelineation exercise conducted by the Election Commission," the organisation said in their statement.
After a brief discussion, it was agreed that Yap and the coalition's lawyers would show up at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters at a later date to record a statement.
Apart from Yap, police had also requested the presence of Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari (Bersih 2.0 acting chairman), Mandeep Singh Karpall (Bersih 2.0 manager) and Amir Abd Hadi (Suaram coordinator).
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Shaharuddin Abdullah confirmed that police went to Bersih 2.0's office to record the statements of those who planned the protest on March 28.
Shaharuddin also said that he would wait for the Bersih members to come to the Dang Wangi police headquarters.
The officers left the premise at around 11.15am.
On Wednesday, some 300 protesters marched from the National Monument to Parliament to submit a memorandum on the EC's redelineation report to Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
However, only 10 representatives, including Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and Shahrul Aman, were allowed to see the speaker's private secretary Jaafar Mat Zin outside of Parliament.