Activist Lodges Report Against Brutality Gets Arrested Instead

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An activist who turned to the police to complain about alleged excessive use of force by Perak Land and Mines Office (PTG) enforcers has wound up getting arrested instead.
The Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activist Chong Yee Shan, who was since released on police bail, told Malaysiakini she lodged the report after getting her injuries examined last night.
Earlier that day, she was injured during an altercation between a group of PSM activists, PTG officers, and a group of farmers in Kanthan, Tambun, who were being evicted.
When she went back to the police this afternoon to have her statement recorded, she was arrested under Section 186 of the Penal Code for allegedly obstructing a public servant.
“After he (police officer) finished recording my statement, he told me he was arresting me,” Chong said.
As for the allegation that PTG officers used excessive force against her, she said she would discuss her options with her lawyer.
Elaborating on her injuries, she said some of her teeth had shifted and broken, and she had extensive abrasions on various parts of her body, as well as a fractured cheekbone.
Yesterday, an altercation broke out when PTG officers came with bulldozers and excavators to evict six farmers, and the farmers and activists attempted to stop the eviction.
During the incident, PSM committee member R Karthiges claimed Chong fell and suffered injuries after a PTG officer violently shoved her.
Police arrested three PSM activists and a farmer that day over the incident, but Chong was not among them.
The four were PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, PSM committee member R Karthiges, Perak PSM Youth member P Kesavan, and a farmer identified as Ho Pon Tien; who were released later that night.
Several activist groups have condemned the violence against Chong and called for an end to the eviction of farmers and demolition of farmlands. - Mkini

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