Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said a first notice was issued on July 25 when the organisers were opting to hold the meeting in a hall or Universiti Selangor, both in Shah Alam.
“There was no positive or pro-active response from the police even after a second notice was sent to hold the event at the hall where the forum came to a premature end,” he said.
Haniff said organisers need only inform the police of meetings to exercise their constitutional right of freedom of expression.
He said this in response to Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar’s statement today that the sole responsibility for security and safety during any forum belonged to the organiser.
The top cop said the organisers should know their responsibility under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012, following statements from some quarters that the police should not be going after the organiser but the perpetrators of the violence and chaos during the forum.
“The PAA is clear in that the responsibility to maintain the security and safety of participants and in the venue falls on the organiser.
“So, it is unfair for the organiser and their supporters to blame the police,” Khalid had said, adding that the organiser could have consulted the police on what needed to be done to prevent any untoward incident during the event, but “since they didn’t, they have to bear the full responsibility”.
He added: “We were not invited to secure the area inside the venue, so we just provided the necessary security outside the venue.”
He also blamed the organisers for not having tighter control on what the attendees could or could not bring into the venue.
In reply, Haniff said the police would have known whether the content of the forum was sensitive, and how many police personnel were needed to be deployed to ensure the safety of participants and ensure the programme went on smoothly.
“However, at this juncture it is unproductive to point fingers at anyone,” he said.
He said, to be fair to the law enforcement agency, there were policemen in the hall to minimise the disruption.
“Even if security was lacking, it did not give a right to anyone to disrupt the event,” he said, adding that police must give confidence to the public that they were also investigating the mastermind responsible for the chaos.
Haniff hoped police would quickly wrap up their inquiry, including identifying those responsible for disrupting the event in the hall.
Citizen’s arrests were made on three male teenagers for allegedly causing pandemonium at the event and the magistrate, on Monday, allowed police to hold the suspects, aged 17, 18 and 19, for four days.
They are being investigated under Section 15(2)(d) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, Section 153 of the Penal Code and Section 8 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances Act 1957.
In the 5.10pm incident at Dewan Raja Musa in Section 7 in Shah Alam, the programme, organised by the PPBM’s youth wing Armada, turned into a ruckus with the throwing of flares, chairs, shoes and water bottles by several individuals in the audience.
This happened after a man in the audience asked the party’s chairman, Mahathir, about the Memali incident which occurred in Baling, Kedah, in September 1985.
However, as Mahathir was answering the question, several individuals began throwing shoes, chairs and water bottles before the troublemakers ignited flares, which were thrown at the former prime minister who was standing in the middle of the stage.
It is learnt that police have picked up several people, including those outside the Klang Valley, who are believed to have planned to disrupt the event.