Published: Monday June 15, 2009 MYT 6:06:00 PM
Updated: Monday June 15, 2009 MYT 9:22:16 PM

Police fire teargas on 700 Iranians at Wisma UN (Update)

By LAI PEI YEE, NG MIN XI and YAZREEN HARON

KUALA LUMPUR: Police fired teargas to disperse about 700 Iranians, mostly students, who had gathered outside Wisma UN in Jalan Semantan here to hand over a memorandum protesting developments in their homeland.

The Iranians had permission to gather outside the UN building at 2pm on Monday. They handed over the memorandum to a UN representative, voicing their grievances and dissatisfaction over the recent election in Iran.

A lone protestor stands while holding a banner aloft as Malaysian police fire tear gas into a group of Iranian students to disperse them after a rally outside the United Nations office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election last week amidst allegations of blatant vote-rigging from opposing candidate Mirhossein Mousavi and his supporters.

The memorandum called for the United Nations to not recognise the newly-formed government, and to establish a commission to investigate the truth behind the election.

Some of the Iranian protestors left after the memorandum was handed over, but most decided to stay on and stage a sit-in.

“Despite our warnings to disperse, they refused to budge,” said Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm of Police (ACP) Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Talib, adding that some wanted to give speeches.

“We refused to allow this because they did not have a permit,” he added.

“They continued shouting ‘Down with the dictator’ and ‘Where is my vote?’ and started singing the Iranian national anthem,” ACP Wan Abdul Bari said.

He said police were forced to fire teargas to disperse the crowd. Some of the protestors fled into the Wisma HELP carpark before dispersing peacefully.

There were also reports that police had fired a warning shot first.

ACP Wan Abdul Bari said that no one was injured during the incident and that no arrests were made.

The incident caused a massive traffic jam along Jalan Semantan.