Don’t suppress peaceful gatherings, says Amnesty after vigil arrests

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: A rights group has urged authorities to end the suppression of peaceful gatherings, saying Malaysians must not be silenced.

Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Katrina Maliamauv called for the revocation of the RM2,000 compound issued to each participant of last night’s candlelight vigil for Covid-19 victims at Dataran Merdeka.

She also called for the police to drop further investigations into the vigil under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and other laws.

“The heavy-handed arrests of participants in last night’s vigil are the latest in a series of abuses of power by the authorities,” she said in a statement.

“It is disingenuous of the police to claim the vigil participants were not arrested but merely brought in for ‘documentation’ when videos of them being forcibly dragged onto waiting police trucks clearly show otherwise.”


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