#LangkahSiswa: Court shortens remand order on 17 student activists

The 17 student activists, who were detained by police on Tuesday night after they held a sit-in protest at Parliament House, have been freed.

According to a post on the Student Council’s Twitter account, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had shortened the remand order from three to two days.

It was reported that the students, including three women, were detained at 10.30pm on Aug 25 in connection with the #LangkahSiswa sit-in protest which called for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to step down.

Sentul police chief, ACP R Munusamy said, the students were detained after calls for them to disperse had been ignored.

He said, the group had been requested to do so because they were situated less than 50 metres from the Parliament House.

“Their actions were against the law and about 25 people (including observers) were present at the scene when the activists were arrested,” he told Astro AWANI on Thursday.

Munusamy said, police had also instructed the activists to get into the police truck themselves to avoid them from being handcuffed but the request too had been ignored.

“The police had instructed the participants to alight the truck, but they had refused to do so. Due to this, several of them were handcuffed using cable ties,” he said.

The group, consisting of 30 students, had gathered since Sunday and held a sit-in protest outside Parliament House to call for Najib’s resignation.

Calling themselves Langkah Siswa, the group initially marched in the rain from Bank Negara on Jalan Dato’ Onn to Parliament House.

They later camped outside the premises until they were detained by police on Tuesday night.

They are being investigated under Section 142 (B) and 124 (B) of the Penal Code.