KUALA LUMPUR: Police assured traders and tourists in Bukit Bintang yesterday that the situation there was under control following the arrests of 14 rioters involved in Sunday night’s incident, said Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Tajuddin Md Isa.

Tajuddin said the public and tourists need not worry and the Golden Triangle was safe.

“Heavy police presence in the area, however, was just to monitor the situation,” said Tajuddin in a press conference at the city police headquarters yesterday afternoon.

Tensions were reignited outside Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur just after midnight yesterday when a fight broke out between two groups, just hours after police had earlier ordered a large group outside the plaza to disperse.

Fist fights broke out among members of both groups while helmets, stones and other items were thrown at each other. Several people, including media personnel, were reportedly injured in the incident.

Tajuddin said four people were injured in the incident, three of them media personnel.

“We arrested 14 rioters, making it 18 detained so far in connection with the case,” said Tajuddin.

Tajuddin said that a car was also damaged in the riot around 4.30am yesterday, as captured on a video that went viral showing rioters smashing and jumping on a black car. It is not known who the car belonged to.

He said the rioters detained on Sunday night were aged between 16 and 40.

Early yesterday morning, police had to cordon off the Bukit Bintang area after the groups refused to heed police advice.

All shops in the area, including 24-hour convenience stores, shuttered up as one group chased the other along Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Reinforcements aided by a motorcycle unit were stationed along Jalan Bulan 1 and Jalan Bukit Bintang.

The drama at Low Yat Plaza began on Saturday when it was reported that a youth had visited one of the shops to buy a Lenovo S860 phone worth RM799.

The salesman who attended to the man reportedly said that the youth ran off with the phone as he turned away to get a free gift.

A chase ensued and handphone dealers in another shop caught the suspect, assaulted him and handed him over to the police.

However, the suspected thief’s friends later barged into the plaza and attacked the store where the employees had helped detain the suspect.

On Sunday evening, some 200 people, some said to be from Malay rights group Pekida, congregated at the plaza, forcing authorities to order the businesses at the premises to close early.

Police cordoned off the area and prevented the group from entering the building. The group left by 10pm. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 14, 2015.