A tensed midnight drama took place at the Jelutong police station in George Town, Penang, when some 30 Kampung Buah Pala residents formed a human barricade and forcefully stopped a police van from ferrying their three detained leaders to the lock up.<br /><br />The residents' resistance was so determined that the police van was forced to reverse to its parking bay.<br /><br />Police personnel then took the handcuffed trio - M Sugumaran, Joseph Stephen Draviam and C Tharmaraj - back to the station.<br /><br />The police released the trio on bail some two hours later.<br /><br />In the 12.30am incident, the police van was about to ferry the detained village leaders to the city police headquarters in Jalan Patani when the residents, mostly women, formed a human barricade at the station's gate.<br /><br />Chanting slogans, the residents successfully blocked the van from moving out before blazing media cameras.<br /><br />During the commotion, there was some pushing and shoving by both the police and villagers, but no one was hurt or arrested.<br /><br />Aliran volunteer Dalbinder Singh and blogger Aravindraj, who were at the scene, proclaimed it as a victory for Makkal Sakti (people's power).<br /><br />"This would go down in history that for the first time, people's power had overcome police power," they said.<br /><br />Full story here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/111733
