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Report: Police to Get New Equipment to Combat Rising
Protests
AP
24-APR-99
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysian police will
soon get new equipment to help them deal with an
increasing number of anti-government protests, a news
report said Saturday.
The new equipment will include water cannons, riot
shields and helmets, the New Straits Times quoted
Malaysia's police chief, Norain Mai, as saying.
Much of the police force's current equipment and
vehicles are old and weak, including protective shields
which could easily shatter if hit by hard objects, the
police chief said.
Protests have rocked this usually placid Southeast
Asian capital since Anwar Ibrahim was sacked last
September as Deputy Prime Minister and later arrested.
Last week, after Anwar was sentenced to a six-year
jail term for four counts of abuse of office, his
supporters fought with the police on the streets of
downtown Kuala Lumpur, throwing homemade bombs and
smashing cars.
More than 100 people have already been arrested for
rioting, and police have sought public help to locate 40
others who were photographed in the act of protesting by
news cameramen.
The New Straits Times began publishing the pictures of
the wanted people on Friday, accompanied by a phone
number of a police officer who could be contacted about
the matter. Informants' identities would be kept secret,
the daily said.
Anwar, 51, may be tried soon for six other charges of
corruption and sodomy. He has denied all the charges,
saying they were trumped up to end the political
challenge he posed to his former boss, Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad.
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