TTW Travels #1 - My Accidental Participation in a Malaysian Protest

travelstheworld (54)in #travel • 7 years ago (edited)

Hello Steemians!

Today I am going to write about the time I found myself in the center of a massive protest that turned violent in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Five years ago, in 2012, I went on a year long trip through Asia and after some exhausting travel I found myself in Kuala Lumpur, I really liked the city so I decided I would stay for 3 weeks to see the sights and do some work in a local library. I was staying in a hostel on Petaling street (Chinatown/hostel district) and I had been seeing a few local people making yellow banners and wearing yellow shirts but at the time I thought nothing of it. Then came the morning of April 28, 2012 which is a day I will never forget, it was the day of a nationwide protest of the Malaysian electoral process held by a group called Bersih (Malay for clean), this protest was the third of its kind, Bersih 3.0.

A local lawyer trying to get the police to stop the violence.

Bersih 3.0 April 28, 2012

I woke in my hostel bed to the sounds of people chanting down in the streets surrounding Chinatown so I had a quick breakfast and headed down to see what was going on. I spoke to a few people on the street and they told me there was a protest going on and that foreigners should stay in their hotels but I figured I would go and see what was happening anyway. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what I saw, the streets were completely shut down and there were thousands of people everywhere. The police estimated the amount of people at the protest to be around 50,000 but the Bersih group gave their estimate at 250,000 people so needless to say there were a lot of people in the streets regardless of the number. I spoke to a few more people and they said that there was a sit in protest surrounding Independence Square that was organized by Bersih that was going on as we spoke. Not even 15 minutes later and people were saying the protest had gone violent.

All the protesters wearing yellow for support.

Apparently, much to Bersih's dismay, a group of people had breached the barricades surrounding and forced the police into action. Like many peaceful protests, when that many people get together there will always be instigators that turn the whole thing bad for everyone and Bersih 3.0 was no different. It always saddens me when a group like Bersih, which is a group I wholly support, whose message is clear and they are trying to do things the right way gets derailed by a small batch of instigators. Once the barricade was breached the police became increasingly violent and both sides ended up in a large standoff in the streets of the capital.

More protesters in the streets as the police start to show force.

The crowd is chanting 'Bersih'

It wasn't long before the police started using riot tactics that are used around the world, forming straight lines with batons and shields, tear gas, and chemical laced water. The blocks surrounding Independence Square were a constant push-pull between the police and the protesters. I spent a lot of time near the front line to get photos and see how far this would go. I met a Malaysian guy named Paul and he was telling me how far he traveled to be a part of this protest and how sad he was to see it turn into what it was. I did not disagree with him.

The police in a show of strength.

This water they were spraying stung like a bitch if you got it in yours eyes, I got splashed a few times, I think it's laced with capsicum.

The police were out in full force

Everyone was constantly running back and forth

By 12:30 the entire downtown core was in a freefall, the police were firing tear gas canisters at the protesters and the protesters were picking them up and throwing them back. Slowly though, the police advanced on the protesters and one by one were pulling them in and arresting them while holding large shields and donning gas masks. It didn't take long before the tables began to turn and the protesters were losing ground.

Tear gas canisters were everywhere and people needed to take shelter to clear their eyes.

One of the impromptu eye clearing stations where we went to rub water in our eyes.

People climbing across the pipe bridges over the canals to move through the city away from the police.

The police in full gear.

Things were getting worse and worse and at one point the police started pointing the tear gas gun at people and screaming to get back. At one point he pointed it in the crowd of people I was standing in and everyone ran but I stayed, I was quite far from him (maybe 20m) so I didn't figure much could happen. They fired a canister about 5m to my right and it bounced off the wall and hit the ground and the gas was blinding, I should have ran with everyone else but I was being stupid.

The police pointing in my direction.

The tear gas canister they shot to my right.

By 2pm the police had taken back the city and were aggressively beating anyone wearing a yellow shirt and putting them in large trucks to be hauled off and charged. I took a photo of one officer as he was kicking a man who was on the ground bleeding but he saw me and demanded to delete it, I was in no position to refuse so he took the camera and deleted it and let me go. I headed back to the hostel and sat on the roof drinking beer for a few hours thinking about all that I had see that day. I will never forget that day and some of the things i saw still give me chills when I think about them, the people just wanted a fair electoral process but the whole thing went to shit. Such is life I suppose.