Malaysia temple riot: Police detain group for refusing to disperse, security beefed up
28 November, 2018
Police have arrested several men after a group gathered near the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya on Tuesday night (Nov 28).
The men were trying to get close to the Hindu temple where riots took place on Monday. Police issued a number of warnings before arresting those who refused to disperse.
Authorities have beefed up security around the area by deploying more personnel. About 1,400 security personnel including those from the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), policemen and traffic police have been deployed at and around the Hindu temple.
The violence surrounding the Hindu temple began on Monday with riots in and around it, which saw 23 vehicles torched, a building damaged and a policeman and a firefighter injured. The firefighter is in critical condition.
As of Tuesday, police had detained 21 people to assist investigations into the rioting, which Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad described as criminal and had nothing to do with race or religion.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department P Waytha Moorthy, meanwhile, asserted that the temple issue was between the developer of the land where the temple was located and the temple management, and it should not be exploited and turned into a racial conflict.
The Malaysian Indian community, he said, should be calm and rational in handling the matter as some unscrupulous people were taking advantage of the situation to further complicate the matter by inciting social unrest.
The temple, which is more than 100 years old, is at the centre of a controversy following a developer wanting to reclaim the land it sits on while some devotees do not want it relocated to a new site given by the state government.