The Hindu : Front Page : Hindraf protest thwarted

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Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
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Hindraf protest thwarted

P. S. Suryanarayana

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Saturday quelled a protest “walk” organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force at a number of places here.

In a dramatic show of force, the police fired teargas and targeted water cannon at several hundred ethnic Indians, who assembled for a “roses campaign” demanding justice while offering flowers as a gesture to the authorities.

Following an overnight ban on this “campaign,” Hindraf abandoned its original plan of staging a short “walk” towards the Parliament House, with children in the vanguard and carrying roses for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Vwaishhnnavi, five-year-old daughter of the self-exiled Hindraf chairman P. Waytha Moorthy, was designated to lead the “walk” and greet the Prime Minister. Under guidance, she had earlier written a letter requesting him to accept such an offer.

In the final act on this day of “state power,” Hindraf followers raised an hour-long chorus of slogans about “people power” at a Vinayaka temple in the heart of the city, even as a lone woman walked up to a riot-control officer there and handed him a yellow rose. Another police officer was seen declining a similar offer even as Hindraf supporters began cheering her. The standoff near the shrine passed off without the police using water cannon that was on stand-by.

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