52 charged with illegal assembly
> Youths arrested following two ‘Gang 24’ videos uploaded on social media
KLANG: Fifty-two youths were charged at the magistrate’s court yesterday for taking part in an illegal assembly.
The youths, comprising mostly secondary school students aged between 14 and 18, were charged with committing the offence in the vicinity of SMK Seri Andalas, SMK Raja Mahadi, SK Simpang Lima and SMK Kampung Jawa at about noon between April 20 and 21.
Six of the accused also faced a second charge of committing the same offence at a different time and location.
Under Section 143 of the Penal Code, the youths face imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine, or both.
Forty-nine of the accused claimed trial while three of the youths pleaded guilty, and a 16year-old suspect did not show up.
For those who claimed trial, deputy public prosecutor Syed Farid Syed Ali proposed RM3,000 bail in one surety.
Magistrate Nor Asma Ahmad granted bail of between RM800 and RM1,000 in one surety for all the accused and fixed July 6 for mention.
Nor Asma also set the same date for the sentencing of the three suspects pending a behavioural report from the Welfare Department.
Counsel Gerard Lazarus, Dinesh Muthal, S.K. Pari and Dev Anand represented 33 of the accused while the rest were unrepresented.
Last month, 18 youths, 13 of whom are students, were arrested for involvement in Gang 24-related activities.
The arrests came after two videos went viral on social media on April 20 showing a group, believed to be members of Gang 24, causing a commotion outside a school in Klang.
The first video showed a group of people shouting and holding banners with “24” and “TD4” while the second video showed a cake with the words “SMK Sri Andalas”, “24” and “Apache”.
Police subsequently rounded up 43 school students, two college students and eight youths.