PSM secretary-general M Sivaranjani said Arutchelvan surrendered himself after being instructed to report by 6pm.
“This arrest is unlawful and constitutes an abuse of police power,” she said in a brief statement.
Last Wednesday, Kuala Lumpur police chief Fadil Marsus said an investigation was opened following a commotion during the submission of a memorandum and a draft bill outside Parliament which was said to have left a police officer injured.
Fadil had said police were investigating the case under Section 353 of the Penal Code for use of criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty, and Section 427 of the Penal Code for mischief.
He referenced a video on TikTok showing participants of a gathering “provoking and forcefully breaching” police officers who were on duty during the event at Jalan Parlimen.
Earlier that day, FMT reported that more than 100 plantation workers from Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah and Johor had marched from Taman Tugu in the capital to Parliament to submit a memorandum on housing and a draft bill making it compulsory for estates to provide homes for local plantation workers.
Police blocked the group from gathering at Parliament’s gates but later allowed the workers to hand over the documents to deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran and opposition chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan.
The following day, police summoned Arutchelvan to provide his statement on the incident.
Arutchelvan claimed that he and several participants at the rally were “roughed up” by police and that “there was no violence from our side”.
Separately, rights groups Amnesty International Malaysia and Article 19 urged the government to immediately and unconditionally release Arutchelvan and drop the investigation against him.
The groups described his arrest as yet another blatant act of intimidation against human rights defenders and an impediment to Arutchelvan’s right to peacefully assemble.
“Protesting for rights must never be treated as a crime. Until intimidation and arbitrary arrests stop, Malaysia’s civic space will remain under serious threat,” they said in a joint statement.
They also called for a proper investigation into reports on the alleged use of unnecessary force by the police and an end to the crackdown on human rights defenders and peaceful protesters.