‘Protester assaulted and dumped into a drain by Malaysian authority’

A protester was beaten up by three police personnel and thrown into a big drain near Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) building during the Bersih 3.0 rally last week.

Jashamsul Nizam, 27 (right), was ambushed from the back at about 3pm on Saturday when mayhem reigned in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

He said the riot police had then just fired tear gas and water cannon at the crowd which surged pass police barricades blocking off Dataran Merdeka.

“They hit me and when I fell to the ground, they kicked me.

“The three of them then carried me and threw me into the drain,” he complained.

Jashamsul, who is a lecturer in management at a private university college, joined seven others in lodging reports at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters today.

He said he remained in the dry drain, about 1m deep, hoping for assistance, but none came as the “situation was chaotic”.

“Eventually I just got up on my own and walked to the hospital,” recounted Jashamsul, who walked 5km before receiving treatment at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

According to him, he had dislocated his right kneecap and sustained a bone fracture on his hands.

‘My mobile phone saved me’

Another protester related that he was nearly hit by a tear gas canister, which came directly at him.

The protester, who wished to be known only as Ang, said that he was using his mobile phone to record the chaos when the tear gas canister hit the phone.

“It would have hit my face,” exclaimed Ang to reporters, but his six-month-old phone saved him.

As a result, the phone was badly damaged and was no longer functioning properly.

Robert Dass, 46, who came to support Bersih, said he had seen the worst of the police that day.

“I was not injured or arrested but I saw the police beating up and abusing the others,” he said.

The police arrested 512 protesters who were subsequently released on Saturday.