This is an appeal by the Public Prosecutor against the decision of the learned magistrate, Kuala Lumpur in acquitting and discharging the 60 respondents at the close of the case for the prosecution in respect of a charge under section 27(5)(a) of the Police Act, 1967. The facts briefly are as follows:--

On December 3, 1974 at about 9.00 a.m. a crowd of about 5,000 assembled at the Selangor Club Padang. Some members of the crowd carried banners and others spoke through loud-hailers apparently demonstrating about something or against someone. Two magistrates were brought in a police vehicle and one of them declared the assembly unlawful and ordered it to disperse, presumably under sections 83 & 84 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The magistrate gave the crowd three minutes to disperse and when it did not do so after the three minutes, he ordered the police to take action. The police fired tear gas into the crowd and it began to disperse but the police action was such that the crowd could only disperse towards Masjid Negara. Meanwhile, at Masjid Negara there were already some people in the mosque, some in the compound of the mosque and some outside along Jalan Young. The crowd that was dispersing from the Selangor Club Padang was followed by the police and entered the mosque. Then at about 10.00 a.m. the crowd in the compound of the mosque began moving out through the Jalan Venning gate. The Senior Police Officer who was in charge of the Police outside the mosque decided that the crowd should not be allowed to go out of the compound of the mosque and on to the public road. He intimated his decision to the Control Centre, presumably his superiors, who agreed with him and sent him reinforcements. As a result, the crowd was driven back into the mosque including the crowd at Jalan Young who had not been in the mosque before. Then stones, bottles and other missiles were thrown by the crowd at the police. According to the mosque officials, the crowd was peaceful until the police charged on them and fired tear gas. The Senior Police Officer reported these developments to the Control Centre and received orders to take dispersal action, cordon off the mosque and arrest as many demonstrators as possible. He did all three. He fired tear gas to disperse the crowd but as the mosque compound was cordoned off and its exits sealed by the police the demonstrators could not disperse. He then ordered his men to enter the mosque and arrest as many people as possible. There were about 3,000 people in the mosque then and of these, 1,092 men and women were arrested. According to the Senior Police Officer who issued the Order to make the arrests in the mosque, the arrests were made indiscriminately, that is to say, to arrest anyone found in the mosque and in the compound. The number arrested, however, was subject to the availability of transport. The 60 respondents before this court were part of the 1,092 men arrested. From their addresses on the charge sheet they all appear to be students of institutions of higher education in Kuala Lumpur, viz. The University of Malaya, the University Kebangsaan, the National Institute of Technology and the MARA Institute of Technology.

The respondents were charged the following day as follows: --

"That you on December 3, 1974 at about 10.50 a.m. at the Masjid Negara,

Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, in the City of Kuala Lumpur, were members of

an unlawful assembly, the common object of which was show of criminal

force against the police in dispersing the said assembly and that you

have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 143 of the

Penal Code."

At the commencement of the trial on March 17, 1975, however, the prosecution altered the charge to an offence under the Police Act as follows:--

"That you on December 3, 1974 at about 10.50 a.m. in the compound of

Masjid Negara, Jalan Hishamuddin, in the Federal Territory of Kuala

Lump