By Shannon Teoh
PETALING JAYA, April 30 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali denied today exchanging signals to break a police barrier in front of Dataran Merdeka during Saturday’s Bersih rally, insisting that the opposition leader had asked the PKR deputy president to negotiate with police.
PKR de facto leader Anwar told a press conference the rolling motion he made with his hands directed at the Gombak MP meant to “nego, nego.”
Azmin said he then jerked his thumb over his shoulder and nodded to the former deputy prime minister to say “I had already negotiated with police.”
A clip which surfaced on video-sharing site YouTube yesterday appears to show Anwar (picture) signalling to Azmin to breach a police barricade barring Bersih supporters from entering Dataran Merdeka.
Police had obtained a court order barring members of the public from entering the historic square and Bersih leaders had also told supporters not to defy the order and instead hold their sit-in rally for free and fair elections up to the point they were stopped by police.
But after some demonstrators breached the barrier, police fired tear gas and water cannons at them, leading to spiralling chaos as police chased Bersih supporters down several streets and some rally-goers retaliated and attacked riot police.
“Nego, nego. Make sure you start talking to the police officer behind you,” Anwar said, repeating the rolling gesture before adding “break means break” and thrusting an open palm in front of him.
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