Chapter 2 - Report of the Complaints, Monitoring and Inquiries Group Table 7: Monitoring of Activities, 2014 NO ASSEMBLY DATE 1. May Day 1 May 2. ‘Hentikan Rogol: Aku Kisah’ 23 August 3. Protest against mega dams 10 September 4. The Malaysian Bar Council’s ‘Walk for Peace and Freedom’ 16 October May Day Rally – No to GST in Kuala Lumpur At each of the assemblies, the participants gathered at different places before marching towards the assembly point. Overall, the police facilitated the assemblies through traffic control operations. Since the Peaceful Assembly Act came into force on 23 April 2012,6 and apart from the ‘Bersih 3.0’ rally,7 the Commission has not encountered any major incidents during public assemblies including in the gatherings monitored above. However, the Commission received a complaint from Himpunan Hijau and SUARAM on an incident in Kuantan, Pahang, dubbed as ‘622 Himpunan Hijau’. On 22 June, around 1000 people gathered to express their protest against Lynas and show solidarity to Himpunan Hijau. During this assembly, it was alleged that police used disproportionate force and arrested 16 people including a foreign citizen. It was also mentioned that some of arrested participants were abused during custody. Apart from this, it was alleged that when a group of participants was waiting outside the police station for the release of the 16 arrested participants, a group of thugs approached and started to physically attack them. When these participants tried to enter and take shelter in the police station, the police personnel simply closed the doors and no assistance was given to stop the thugs from attacking the participants. 6 7 52 Refer to SUHAKAM Annual Report 2012 Refer to Report of Public Inquiry into the Incidents During and After the Public Assembly on 28 April 2012