Evening update

20:07

It's been an amazing day. The MB holding a dramatic press conference, crowds erupting in disgust after Friday prayers in KK, and KK towns folk jeering vehicles emerging from the palace.

20:11

In between, we have witnessed the drama at the state government building, hiked up the hill to the Istana, witnessed people staring down FRU water cannon trucks, run away from tear gas - and tried some laksa kuala (made of rice flour noodles with spicy fish soup)! What a life...

20:11

[Comment From eli wong] thanks anil for the reporting. it brought tears to my eyes.

20:19

In KK, my colleague witnessed one young man, in his early 20s, being apprehended by a traffic policeman after the Sultan's car had passed by. When my colleague asked him the others why he had been detained, they said the youth had shouted abuse at the Sultan.

20:31

After inhaling a good dose of tear gas at the Masjid Ubudiah, I ran into a group of three middle-aged Malay gentlemen who were walking downhill from the mosque. They - Jamal, Rahman and Nasri, invite me to join them for a meal near the Kuala and they insist I should try the laksa kuala.

20:33

The laksa adds to the exhiliration after the dose of teargas. "The BN is finished in Perak," Jamal tells me.

20:36

I ask them about the stone throwing incident with the FRU. What exactly happened there? They insist that the stone throwing began after the FRU has fired teargas into the group of onlookers on the hillslope outside the mosque, in addition to the teargas aimed at the crowd on the road. "That's when certain people got angry and began throwing stones back," he said. "Look, all the people came to the mosque unarmed. They were not going to be violent. They just wanted to express how they felt."

20:43

One of them predicts that Najib won't last in power more than 40 days. I ask them what makes them so sure. "People have recited the doa hajat," one of them replies. I ask them to explain what the doa hajat is all about. They seemed amused by my questions. "It's a prayer for God to take action against someone if he has mengzalimi (oppressed) the people."

20:47

My colleague Amiruddin has uploaded some excellent pictures here.

20:55

[Comment From Aun] Well nothing can be done for the time being, all i can say is PR cant blame anyone else because they are the one starting the crossover idea. Though I dun like BN but lets face it, we can only accept the fate for the time being untill the sultan change his mind or the court allows the seat to be declare vacant. Take it to the streets wont do any good and just give BN the excuse to say that PR supporters are uncivilised people.

21:00

The situation in the streets of Ipoh seems normal. Life carries on as usual. It is not tense out there and it's perfectly safe to venture out. It's just that many people are upset and angry but they are finding solidarity in knowing that others are feeling the same way too.

21:05

[Comment From Truly Malaysian] Thanks Anil. I like the first photo that Amirudin has uploaded. One Malay guy with skull cap (kopiah) wearing DAP Action Team vest:) Yes, we can live in harmony under PR.

21:08

[Comment From firdy] If not now aun....when? most of us are proud to stand for the people and let it be of our generation. We are answerable to our children children children.

21:13

The anger among the people appears to have cut across ethnic lines. Now, what makes it interesting is that Nizar, a Malay-Muslim, was the Sultan's choice. Ironically, it is Nizar's leadership that has prevented this whole issue from being turned into a racial issue by unscrupulous quarters. It could have been so different if someone from the DAP had been MB, in which case this crisis could so easily have been manipulated into a racial issue.