About 300 protesters have gathered outside Bar Council headquarters demanding that the lawyers group halt its controversial forum on ‘Conversion to Islam’ this morning.
The Bar Council today, adhereing to the advice of the police - and an angry mob at its doorstep - wrapped up its half-day forum on 'Conversion to Islam' at 10am, an hour after it had started.
Earlier about 300 protesters have gathered outside Bar Council headquarters demanding that the lawyers group halt its controversial forum on ‘Conversion to Islam’.
A leader of the protesters - PKR Kulim-Bandar Baharu parliamentarian Zulkifli Noordin - declared the abrupt end of the forum as a victory for them. By 10.40am, most of the protesters have dispersed.
The open forum on the sensitive religious issue kicked off at 9am but angry protestors have given organisers half an hour to cancel the event.
About 15 police officers and an Federal Reserve Unit truck have been deployed to the area and the road leading to the Bar Council office where the forum is held has been closed.
In the bid to diffuse the situation, the police have told Bar Council to wrap up its forum by 10am.
The protesters, many of whom are from Muslim welfare organsation Perkida and Islamic party PAS, shouted, “Hancur Bar Council” (Crush Bar Council), “Hidup Islam” (Long Live Islam) and “Batal forum” (Cancel the forum).
They are carrying placards saying “Jangan cabar Islam” (Don’t challenge Islam) and “Bar Council, Don’t play with fire”.
Among the protest leaders seen in the crowd are PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub and Zulkifli.
The protesters, many of whom came just before the forum began, later decided to sit down in front of the Bar Council building and vowed that they would not budge until the event had been cancelled.
Some threatened to storm the building to physically stop the forum.
One speaker pull out
Among the speakers at the forum was syariah lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla. Mohd Haniff represented the Federal Territory’s Islamic Religious Council in the case of R Subashini. K Shanmuga and Ravi Nekoo, who were counsel for Subashini and S Shamala, respectively, also spoke.
However, one speaker has pull out - former Syariah judge and currently the Federal Territory Islamic Department’s syariah prosecutor Dr Mohd Naim Mokhtar.
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