65 held as Malaysian govt wins back state

IPOH, Malaysia: Malaysia's ruling coalition took control of a disputed legislature yesterday as police arrested 65 people, including five opposition MPs, in a battle over who ran the peninsula's second largest state.

Police, backed by water cannon, deployed barbed wire around the state legislature in Ipoh, the capital of Perak state in northwestern Malaysia, while it held its first session since the state government was ousted.

Police stopped opposition supporters from entering the building and cleared a 500 m exclusion zone. They detained anyone wearing black, the colour chosen by the opposition to protest against the ruling coalition's takeover.