THE three people who organised a peaceful protest yesterday against the Perikatan Nasional government at Dataran Merdeka have been fined by the police.

Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy told The Malaysian Insight that the trio were each fined RM2,000 for breaching the movement control order.

“The three, Mohd Asyraf of Bersih 2.0, Mohd Alsatri of Suaram, and Taufik Azhar, a poet, were given a RM2,000 compound each by the Dang Wangi police.

“They were initially called up to the district police station to have their statements recorded.

“They were not arrested and have since been released by the cops,” Sevan said when contacted.

Yesterday saw black flags and mock dead bodies littering Dataran Merdeka during a protest against the government’s handling of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Youth-based group Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat (SSR) said the government had failed to control the outbreak despite taking harsh measures such as declaring an emergency and order a full lockdown.

“The PN government has lost credibility, the fate of the people (depends on the government successfully) curbing the pandemic, (efforts at which) have failed and those who have raised white flags (to ask for help) have even been insulted, while the number of infections keeps rising,” SSR said in a statement released in conjunction with the protest.

The insult referred to is attributable to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who last week told people not to raise white flags if they needed help because the government would provide aid.

The display of corpses Dataran Merdeka represented the high number of deaths from infection as well as suicide.

The group also brandished black flags and a banner with the hashtag #KeluarDanLawan (come out and fight). – July 18, 2021.