Youths arrested during music gig released

Police released 161 out of the 163 people arrested during a surprise raid at an independent punk music venue Rumah Api in Ampang recently.

“All 161 youths have been released without condition except for two local man who need to report back on September 30. They are the owners of the Rumah Api (event location),” said lawyer, Haijan Omar to The Malaysian Insider.

He added the two who remained in police custody was an Indonesian and Philippine citizen and is still waiting for their documents to be processed by the relevant government agencies.

The detainees were arrested under Section 143 of the Penal Code, Section (4)(1)(b) of the Sedition Act and Section (6) of the Selangor Entertainment and Place of Entertainment Enactment.

On Friday, police raided the performance venue during the performance of the punk band, Virginia on Duty at about 11.30pm.

Although the cause of the raid is yet to be informed, veteran musician Joe Kidd told Malaysiakini that he doubted the raid had anything to do with Bersih 4 which began on Saturday (August 29) and ended on Sunday (August 30).