| About 10,000 protesters demonstrated under the shadows of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Twin Towers after their efforts to petition the British High Commission was thwarted by the police with tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon. 
The protesters had attempted to gather outside the high commission early this morning but thousand were pushed back by the riot police to outside a two-kilometre radius of the venue.
However, the protesters later joined the another crowd gathered in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) which surged to between 10,000 and 15,000 by 9.30am. The protesters – a mix of young and old Indian Malaysians from all parts of the country - were addressed with loudhailers by Hindraf leaders, including P Uttayakumar.
Meanwhile, the police are firing tear gas and chemical-laced water into the defiant crowd every 10 minutes. Each time, the crowd retreated and then surged forward.
By 10.30am, the demonstration appeared to have ended after Hindraf leaders stopped their speeches. However, thousands of protesters continue to mill around the KLCC areas playing cat-and-mouse game with the police water cannon.
'This is outrageous'
H indraf leader A Sivanesan condemned the police for turning Kuala Lumpur into a war zone.
"Things are getting out of hand. We blame the police. They have beaten women and children. This is outrageous," he told Malaysiakini. "But this will not stop us from submitting the memorandum and we will try to find a way to do that."
L awyer Haris Ibrahim, who is leading at 10-member Bar Council monitoring team, was stunned by the heavy-handed police action against the protesters.
"I'm not happy with the way the police are handling the crowd."
DAP member of parliament M Kulasegaran was also upset with the crackdown.
"Over the last 50 years Indian have been marginalised in this country. And we now want the same rights as enjoyed by other communities," he told AFP.
"They have no right to stop us from protesting today. This is the will of the people," he added.
Petition to Queen Elizabeth II
The planned protest is to support a lawsuit by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) against Malaysia's former colonial power for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years.
Furthermore, the suit sought a declaration that the Reid Commission Report 1957 failed to incorporate the rights of the Indian community when independence was granted, resulting in discrimination and marginalisation to this day.
The quantum being sought is about US$2 million for every Indian currently residing in Malaysia.
Following the filing of the suit, Hindraf held nationwide roadshows explaining to grassroots about the case.
Coupled with their work to prevent rampant state-sanctioned demolition of Hindu temples, Hindraf won over a wave of support for their cause. Today's memorandum was to petition Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a Queen's counsel to argue the case on their behalf. | 
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