Black 505: Rally to go on despite haze, no City Hall approval and police warnings

 

Dataran Merdeka closed off 

(The Star) – 10.10am: Smooth traffic along Jalan Sultan Hishammuddin with minimal police presence and festive mood in front of the National Mosque.

9.35am: Some PAS supporters have started gathering in front of their headquarters on at Jalan Raja Laut. Two stalls were also set up in front of the building with one selling Black 505 t-shirts

9.30am: No one being allowed in the Dataran Merdeka area. DBKL staff turning away pedestrians and tourists. A DBKL personnel said they received instructions on Friday night, “just, in case.”

9.24am: No crowd at Padang Merbok, DBKL personnel seen on the outskirts of the field.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Black 505 rally, to protest alleged fraud during GE13, is all set to go on Saturday despite the haze, lack of approval from Kuala Lumpur City Hall and warnings from the police.

City Hall personnel have been in the area with their mobile operations centre and vehicles parked in the parking lot of the field since Friday night.

Participants, mainly supporters of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat and a number of non-governmental organisations, are expected to start gathering at noon before heading to Padang Merbok where the rally is expected to begin at about 3pm.

The seven main meeting points are in Brickfields, Masjid Negara, Pudu, Jalan Raja Laut (PAS headquarters), Universiti Malaya, Sogo shopping complex and Pekeliling.

On Friday night, City police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh, in a Facebook posting, had said police had received information that the rally organisers had ordered protesters to provoke the authorities to intentionally create chaos, claiming that the planned provocation was to incite the anger of the policemen on duty during the rally, hoping to elicit some form of retaliation.

In an immediate reaction, PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli and organiser of all Black 505 rallies denied DCP Mohmad’s posting, adding that he had ordered his lawyer to start legal proceedings against DCP Mohmad.

“There was not one discussion that touched on aggressive behaviour towards the police and I have had good discussions with Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Ahmad the whole time,” he said in a statement Friday night.