Lawyers N.Surendran and Lateefah Koya at the gates of Brickfields Police Station along with supporters of the five lawyers arrested on May 7. Sunpix by : Zulkifli ersal.

Their police bail expired today and in keeping with an earlier instruction, they had turned up at the station to see whether the bail would be extended or they would be charged. However, they were told instead to go home.

About people, including Coalition for Free and Fair Election (Bersih) activist Wong Chin Huat, turned up to support the 19.

Latheefa Koya, who is representing the five Legal Aid Centre lawyers, told reporters that: "They have been freed and told to forget the police bail. I do not know what that means, but we are going to take it that they are off the hook."

Latheefa, who was accompanied by four other lawyers, N Surendran, Ravi Nekoo and Bar Council vice-president Lim Chee Wee, said they had been receiving mixed signals from the police over the fate of their clients, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Syuhaini Safwan, Puspawati Rosman, Ravinder Singh and Murnie Hidayah Anuar from the Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre.

Surendran also criticised the earlier action by Brickfields district police chief Wan Bari Wan Abdul Khalid.

Bari had used a loud hailer to order the crowd to disperse from the station or face arrest for convening an illegal assembly.

"While we were inside negotiating with the police, and the clients were outside. We were shocked to see the OCPD of this police station misbehaving and using the loudspeaker to ask them to disperse. The people who were outside, were mainly people who had been summoned to the police station, and had been arrested by the police themselves," said Surendran.

Wong, whose arrest under the Sedition Act was what prompted the illegal gathering of May 7, welcomed the dropping of the police bail.

"But you have to see that at some point it was not communicated clearly, as people were saying different things (about the bail)," said Wong.

Bari told reporters later that what happened today "should not have happened", as the police had already contacted lawyer M. Puravelen, who represents the five lawyers, to notify him of the police decision to release them from police bail.

"The police had contacted the Bar Council yesterday at 5.15pm and talked to Puravelan, who had come to the police station on May 8 with (Bar Council president) Ragunath Kesavan to represent the arrested lawyers," said Bari.

"I had reminded them that the remand ended today. I have told him they do not have to come because we do not need them any more to assist us in the investigation. So I do not understand why they are here today," said Bari.

Ragunath, when contacted, said Puravelan had called him last night at 9 but he was concerned that there was a written notice for the lawyers to attend, "and if they didn't,  I did'nt want the police to say that the Bar Council is arrogant and above the law".

"As it is a requirement under police bail for them to appear, they have to appear," he said.