Bersih: Anwar Ibrahim not injured - told Police

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he suffered a bruise on his head and a cut leg today after police fired tear gas on protesters demanding poll reform ahead of general elections.

Looking frail but in high spirits, Anwar said doctors had asked him to rest in hospital after suffering a fall following a tear gas attack.

Lying on his hospital bed, the former deputy prime minister and once heir apparent to ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad, had tubes placed into his nose and wore a neck brace.

Anwar, 62, said he would be kept in hospital overnight and was on pain killers.

“I am okay. I still feel nausea and dizziness,” he told AFP.

Recounting today's chaos that led him to fall and hit his head on a concrete pavement near a train station, Anwar said police fired tear gas from both side of a passageway.

“They shot directly (at us) ... I could hardly breathe and stand up at the time,” he said.

Anwar hailed the protest gathering as a success and condemned the police action.

“I considere it a success despite the fact that they (police) were really brutal in their action,” he said.

Organisers said around 50,000 participated in the outlawed rally while police estimated the number to be 5,000.

Anwar was brought to a local private hospital in an ambulance along with his bodyguard who was also injured.

The injured bodyguard however had to undergo minor surgery after he was hit in the left eye by a tear gas canister.

- AFP