LIVE: Report from Malaysiakini.com
Malaysian police fired tear gas and water cannon in clashes with thousands of protesters demanding electoral reforms on Saturday, raising the risk of a political backlash that could delay national polls which had been expected within months.
Riot police reacted after some protesters among the crowd of at least 25,000 tried to break through barriers, in defiance of a court order banning them from entering the city's historic Merdeka Square. They fired several dozen tear gas rounds, sending the protesters scattering through nearby streets.
Reuters: Malaysian police fire tear gas
BBC: Current arrangements will benefit Najib
AlJazeera: "We will march to the barrier"
Guardian: "We cannot be quiet anymore"
"This was a peaceful protest and they have come in with this heavy handed crackdown to disperse people" - Nick Xenophone
Adelaide Now: Senator Xenophon gassed in KL
“By launching a crackdown on peaceful protesters on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government is once again showing its contempt for its people’s basic rights and freedoms” - Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia.
Washington Post: "We do not want them to get elected by cheating"
CBC News: Najib can now be proud he has given birth to SE Asia's biggest street rally
“The reason [authorities] reacted that way is they’re afraid of losing power and, in the back of their minds, they’re aware of what’s happened in the Middle East” - Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert and associate professor at Singapore Management University.
“They also made it illegal to protest in Merdeka Square,” Welsh said. “Why? Because it’s just like Tahrir Square in Egypt.”
GlobalPost: Malaysia's Arab Spring?
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