Malaysian police cordon off city, make arrests
IPOH, Malaysia, May 7 (Reuters) - Malaysian police cordoned off the state legislature in the northwestern city of Ipoh on Thursday and made at least 12 arrests ahead of a meeting of the Perak state assembly, according to eyewitnesses.
Perak has become the focal point of tensions between the opposition and the National Front government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years following the takeover of the state government in a move orchestrated by Najib Razak, the country's new prime minister.
In February, Najib convinced three opposition lawmakers to sit as independents, a move that deprived the People's Alliance of its majority in the state, one of five ruled by the opposition.
The opposition has called for protests outside the assembly. But hundreds of police, some wearing riot gear and backed by water cannon, have the power to arrest on sight anyone within 500 metres of the assembly building under a court order.
They moved in to pick up anyone wearing black, the colour being used to protest against the government.
Jenice Lee, an opposition state assemblywoman from the state of Selangor near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, was among those arrested.
"I am an elected representative, I am not fighting you," she said as she was dragged away by police.
Lee was one of four people arrested at the same time, according to a Reuters reporter. Earlier in the day people were arrested for wearing or selling black T-shirts in the residential neighbourhood around the state building.
Police ordered a group of 150 protesters in front of a restaurant to disperse.
The protests on Thursday were held to mark the first sitting of the state assembly since February and it was not clear whether the speaker of the assembly, a member of the now-opposition, would recognise the three independent lawmakers.
In the run-up to the protest in Ipoh, the government has arrested 19 people, including a top politician from the country's Islamist opposition and a human rights activist. [ID:nKLR403451]
The opposition charges that Najib, who took office in April, is intent on cracking down on dissent against his unpopular government, which has lost four out of five national and state by-elections since the March 2008 general election.
"This is a war zone, a national and international disgrace," Lim Kit Siang, a senior member of parliament with the opposition Democratic Action Party, said after he was denied entry to the state assembly. (Reporting by Razak Ahmad; Writing by David Chance; Editing by John Chalmers)
