Fracas: Rela members hurt as media mobs Dr M

By SIRA HABIBU and YENG AI CHUN

KUALA LUMPUR: Three Rela members were injured when media personnel mobbed former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad soon after the opening of the Umno General Assembly here on Thursday.

The Rela members claimed that a cameraman, believed to be from a foreign media organisation, hit them with a video camera while they were trying to control the crowd.

More than a hundred local and international journalists had been waiting outside the VIP room at the Putra World Trade Centre where the leaders had adjourned to for refreshments after Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s speech.

When Dr Mahathir’s bodyguards came out, the horde of newsmen surged forward with their equipment.

His bodyguards and Rela shouted, asking the newsmen to make way for the former premier who wanted to use the washroom. Security personel then started pushing the pressmen aside to forge a path for him.

When he came out to go to the media conference room, the newsmen surged forward again. Security personnel formed a human barricade and began pushing the media aside. A female reporter fell in the melee.

Rela members Mohd Sofian Abu Bakar, Razali Kaslar and Norazmy Mohamad said they were hit on their heads.

“This is the first time we have experienced such an unpleasant incident.

“We do not understand why members of the media still want to mob (Dr Mahathir) as this year, arrangement were made for media conferences to be held at specific spots,” said Mohd Sofian.

He claimed the cameraman hit him three times on the head. Razali and Norazmy claimed the same cameraman hit them twice on their foreheads.

At the end of the press conference Dr Mahathir called on the media to stay and not move to enable him to leave the room first.

source : mstar.com.my