AP 
 
Kuala Lumpur, Dec 5: Twenty-six ethnic Indians have been charged with attempted murder of a policeman during an anti-discrimination rally in Malaysia last month, a lawyer said Tuesday.

The defendants pleaded innocent to charges of attempting to kill the officer during a clash at a temple compound outside Kuala Lumpur on November 25, lawyer M Manoharan Malayalam said.

The rally, involving 10,000 people, was the largest protest in at least a decade involving Indians, the country's second-largest minority population after ethnic Chinese. They had demanded equality and fair treatment in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

"It's very shocking," Manoharan said. "This is a clear victimisation of the Indians by bringing forth a malicious prosecution that is race-based."

Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail said the policeman received stitches on his head after being attacked with bricks and iron pipes.

”This is has nothing to do with race," he said. "We follow the law. It applies to everyone under the sun."

Manoharan said the 26 Indians were earlier arrested during the rally and about half of them have already been charged for illegal assembly. They were released on bail but police rearrested them at their homes before dawn Tuesday in a surprise raid, he said.

They face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, he added.

Indians, which make up eight percent of the country's 27 million people, say they suffer discrimination because of an affirmative action policy that favours the majority Malay Muslims in jobs, education, business and government contracts.

They also complain the government is becoming increasingly Islamic and is denying them their religious rights, citing the demolition of dozens of Hindu temples.

Ethnic Malays form about 60 percent and control the government. Chinese make up a quarter of the population and generally are much wealthier than Indians, most of whom earn low incomes and work in menial jobs.

The government denies that discrimination exists, and has accused the rally organisers of trying to create racial animosity. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has warned he might enforce a security law that allows indefinite detention without trial to prevent future demonstrations.