Malaysians Protest for Fair Elections

" We want free and fair elections and clearly Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and his cabinet are complicit to the crime of cheating Malaysians from having free and fair elections," dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim told journalists, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

clipped from www.islamonline.net Some 30,000 demonstrators massed at the landmark Merdeka (Freedom) Square, led by opposition leaders. (Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on protesters Saturday, November 10, as tens of thousands defied a government ban and rallied in the capital to call for fair and clean elections expected to be called early next year. Some 30,000 demonstrators massed at the landmark Merdeka (Freedom) Square, led by opposition leaders as they faced off against hundreds of riot police. They chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Reformasi", a reform demand that was the chant of 1998 opposition protests, while waving banners reading "Save Malaysia" and "Election Commission, stop your tricks." "We want free and fair elections," said Anwar. (Reuters) Two people were seriously injured in September when police opened fire to disperse rioters at a Bersih rally in the northeastern state of Terengganu.