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.

The residents' resistance was so determined that the police van was forced to reverse to its parking bay.

Police personnel then took the handcuffed trio - M Sugumaran, Joseph Stephen Draviam and C Tharmaraj - back to the station.

The police released the trio on bail some two hours later.

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.

Chanting slogans, the residents successfully blocked the van from moving out before blazing media cameras.

During the commotion, there was some pushing and shoving by both the police and villagers, but no one was hurt or arrested.

Aliran volunteer Dalbinder Singh and blogger Aravindraj, who were at the scene, proclaimed it as a victory for Makkal Sakti (people's power).

"This would go down in history that for the first time, people's power had overcome police power," they said.

Full story here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/111733