KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Bowing to public pressure, the government is expected to charge the cow head protestors under the Sedition Act and for illegal assembly.
The Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail confirmed the charges today.
The protestors are likely to be charged tomorrow in Shah Alam.
A group of more than 50 people said to be residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam had protested recently in front of the state secretariat against the proposed relocation of a Hindu temple to their neighbourhood.
The Malay-Muslim protestors had threatened bloodshed, and stamped on and spat at a severed cow head, in a highly provocative gesture because the animal is considered sacred by Hindus.
Gani said today that most of the protestors will be charged for illegal assembly.
But those who uttered the provocative words and steeped on the cow’s head will be charged for sedition.
“I have decided to charge those who carried and spoke while stepping on the cow head under Sect 4 (1) of the Sedition Act alternatively Section 298 of the Penal Code.
“They as well the other demonstrators will also face another charge under section 27 (5) of the Police Act for illegal assembly,” Gani said in the press statement today.
He said that the police had submitted their investigation papers to him today and he was satisfied there was enough evidence to charge the cow head protestors.
The provocative manner of the protest continued last Saturday, when some residents caused a commotion at a town hall meeting with them, by shouting and heckling at the mentri besar and other state lawmakers until the dialogue was called off.
The state government announced today they had found an alternative site for the temple, just a few hundred metres away from the originally proposed location.
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