SUHAKAM Report of Public Inquiry into the Incidents During and After the Public Assembly of 28 April 2012 and the traffic, and ensuring the availability of exit routes. While the police may have the power to arrest and disperse the assembly under sections 20 and 21 of the PAA 2012, they also should allow sufficient and reasonable time for voluntary compliance by the participants first before taking further action to disperse or arrest them. Even then, in dispersing or making any arrests, the police should only use such force as is necessary to achieve the objectives; disproportionate force should be avoided at all times. In this regard, the Panel would like to commend PDRM for the manner in which it handled and managed the KL112 Assembly (Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat) which took place on 12 January 2013. 5.70 The Panel believes that PDRM has extensive experience in managing and controlling crowds even in situations involving a large number of people, as exemplified by their handling of public events like the Merdeka Day Celebrations, Malaysia Day Celebrations and New Year’s Eve, all of which at one time or another, had been held at Dataran Merdeka. Given their experience, the Panel is confident that the police would have had the capability to facilitate the assembly on 28 April and to act accordingly to ensure a peaceful and relatively incident-free day. 5.71 The Panel is of the opinion that the police could and should have immediately arrested the individuals who dismantled the barricades, more so when it happened right in front of the police or within sight of the police. Instead, for reasons best known to them, the police took the decision to disperse the participants by using water cannon and tear gas without arresting the individuals who dismantled the barricades earlier. 5.72 The Panel views seriously the conduct of a traffic police who was pointing his gun at the crowd which could have endangered the lives of the people there. 5.73 The Panels observes that the organiser had prepared and distributed guidelines to all participants. The guidelines, entitled Garis Panduan BERSIH 3.0 – 28 April were made available at BERSIH’s homepage and Facebook webpage. In the said guidelines, the organiser had listed the steps to be taken by the participants before, during and after the assembly including statements such as “Jangan bawa sebarang benda tajam”, “Jangan bawa benda yang mudah meletup”, “Berkumpul di tempat pertemuan yang ditetapkan” and “Pastikan bersurai secara perlahanlahan dan aman selepas arahan bersurai”. However, the Panel is concerned at some of the language used in those guidelines, in particular, the following paragraphs: “sesungguhnya anda akan rasa lebih hebat dan berani lagi selepas ditangkap kerana tidak semua orang berpeluang merasai apa yang anda lalui ketika ditahan”, “peristiwa ini adalah peluang anda sekali seumur hidup dan ianya akan kekal menjadi sejarah yang akan menjadi sebutan kepada anak cucu kita. Jangan lepaskan peluang untuk menjadi sebahagian dari sejarah ini, and “Ikutilah arahan dari Unit Amal atau Field Commander sepanjang program. Jangan 69