Tens of thousands of anti-ISA supporters gather at Jalan Raja Laut in front of the PAS HQ. Lim Kit Siang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Hadi Awang spoke to the supporters before asking them to disperse. - Pictures by Choo Choy May
Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters who gathered in various areas, including Masjid Jamek, Dataran Merdeka, the National Mosque and along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, for their peaceful march headed towards the Istana Negara.
Attempts by the GMI to hand over the memorandum were, however, unsuccessful.
The GMI supporters began converging to the city as early at 7am and gathered at Masjid Jamek, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Kinabalu, Dataran Merdeka, before walking towards the Sogo shopping centre at 2pm to proceed to Istana Negara, but was stopped by the police.
Among those seen in the group were Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman said police would investigate opposition leaders who had delivered their speeches in front of the GMI supporters at the PAS headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut at about 3.55pm.
They included PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Lim, Anwar, Terengganu PAS Commissioner Datuk Mustafa Ali and PKR vice-president Tian Chua.
A tourist couple looking rather puzzled at the police in full riot-gear when there's a peaceful march, with no trouble or riots in sight.
Meanwhile, a group which claimed to support the ISA, Majlis Permuafakatan Ummah (Pewaris), complied with the police order and cancelled a gathering it planned to hold at the Central Market.
Its spokesman, Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, said Pewaris was still sending 10 representatives to hand over a memorandum in support of the ISA to the Yang Dipertuan Agong.
“Only the gathering has been cancelled because we do not want to create a tense situation,” he added.
Mohd Khairul, who is also the legal adviser for the Pembela Negara Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations Council (Magaran), was however arrested by the police at 7pm when he attempted to enter the Istana Negara compound to hand over a memorandum to retain the ISA.
Brickfields deputy police chief Supt Azri Abdul Rahman, who confirmed this, said Mohd Khairul Azam would be released after police had recorded his statement.
Meanwhile, traders in Jalan Masjid India and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman were affected as they were forced to close their business. A survey at the affected areas at 6.30pm found traders there and at the Sogo shopping centre, which was ordered closed by the police at 1.30pm, resuming their business.
Ahmad Husin, who has been operating his business at Masjid India for the past 15 years regretted the enforced closure and felt it was irresponsible.
The LRT stations at Bandaraya and Masjid Jamek were also closed temporarily from 1.55pm to 6.20pm because of the incident.
“The stations are back in operation. We had to close them earlier because of security reasons,” RapidKL general manager of communications Ebi Azly Abdullah said. – Bernama
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