KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Riot police in Kuala Lumpur fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of demonstrators protesting Malaysian security law, authorities said.
Police arrested nearly 600 of the estimated 10,000 protesters Saturday, the Malaysia Star reported Sunday.
Chanting "down with the government," the throng of mostly ethnic Malays marched across the city to demand Malaysia rescind the Internal Security Act, The Times of London reported. In the name of national security, the ISA allows imprisonment without trial.
But the government uses the law to silence political dissent, a joint statement from rights groups said.
"The secrecy and unscrupulous practice that surrounds the use of the law exhibits the true color of the ISA," said the statement from the Malaysian rights group Suaram, the World Organization Against Torture and the International Federation for Human Rights.
Last year, the groups said, the government used the ISA against a pro-opposition blogger, a journalist and members of Hindraf, an outlawed Hindu rights group.
