Malaysian police halt human-rights day march

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police halted an annual human-rights march on Sunday, arresting at least four people and drawing widespread criticism for being intolerant of dissent.

Some 60 people, including a dozen lawyers, carried banners and leaflets in defiance of both official warnings and the Malaysian Bar Council, which withdrew its support for the march after police crackdowns on other recent demonstrations.

Street protests are illegal in Malaysia unless sanctioned by police, though lawyers involved in Sunday's unauthorised march said they were exercising a constitutional right to free speech.

"We have definitely made our point and it shows how ridiculous the government and the police are in this overwhelming show of force which is completely unnecessary," said lawyer Jonson Chong.

Police and reporters outnumbered demonstrators in the walk that lasted for just 20 minutes. Police sealed off the landmark Merdeka (Independence) Square, scene of unprecedented anti-government protests in the late 1990s, in anticipation of the march.

Demonstrators wore white surgical masks, signifying government gag on free speech. One banner read: "Lawyers for Freedom of Assembly".

The government was rocked by two major street protests last month involving a total of more than 20,000 people, the biggest anti-government demonstrations in a decade, over separate issues of electoral reform and the rights of minority ethnic Indians.

The protest by ethnic Indians, which drew about 10,000 people onto the streets of the capital, was especially unsettling for the government because it focused on the sensitive and potentially explosive issue of race relations.

Malaysia is dominated politically by ethnic Malays, though they make up only a slender majority of the population. Ethnic Chinese, who make up about a third, dominate business. Ethnic Indians, at about 7 percent, complain they are marginalised.

Relations between the three main ethnic groups are often strained, though there has not been a major race riot since 1969.

The government says it is taking a tough stand against street demonstrations because it fears they could lead to violence, but opposition parties say the government is merely using this fear as a pretext to clamp down on free speech and popular dissent.