April 28, 2012
Bersih
supporters gather near Dataran Merdeka as they await the start of the
sit-in protest, which is scheduled to begin at 2pm, in Kuala Lumpur
April 28, 2012. — Picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR,
April 28 — Close to 20,000 demonstrators converged within a few hundred
metres of Dataran Merdeka, defying police orders not to march down the
streets in the city centre to make their way to a rally for free and
fair elections.
Groups of at least 3,000 each are now gathered at the Jalan Raja and
Jalan Tun Perak intersection, Pasar Seni and the National Mosque, where
yellow-clad DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and PAS deputy
president Mohamad Sabu have joined Bersih supporters.
Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, Datuk Seri
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is PKR president, also arrived at the
mosque at 12.30pm.
The PKR de facto leader tried to get past police with a small team
but was turned away. He has now rejoined the group at the National
Mosque.
The Himpunan Hijau group, which has swelled to well over 5,000, have
also left the Australian High Commission where they protested against
the Lynas Corp rare earth plant that has raised fears of radiation
pollution among residents in Kuantan.
They have now joined up with others near Menara Maybank and the 7,000-strong group is waiting to head towards Dataran Merdeka.
A group of over 2,000 are also marching down Jalan Tun Sambanthan
from Brickfields to join up with those at Pasar Seni, where Bersih
co-chairs Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk A. Samad Said along with
other Bersih leaders are gathered.
Himpunan Hijau, the group from Brickfields and those at Jalan
Raja-Tun Perak all broke through barricades of policemen, who have so
far been more restrained compared to last July’s Bersih rally when riot
police dispersed crowds with force.
But police are now deploying water cannon trucks and at least a dozen
are stationed at Dataran Merdeka, which was made off-limits to the
public ahead of today’s rally.
PAS Unit Amal volunteers are taking charge of crowd control, telling
the various groups to sit and be calm as the rally is only scheduled to
begin at 2pm.
Some groups have spontaneously broken into song, with the popular choice being Negaraku, the national anthem.
Police are stationed across the city, blocking the main arteries into
the city centre. Extensive police presence is observable at all six
Bersih-designated meeting points of Masjid India, Masjid Negara, Dataran
Gajah in Brickfields, Jalan Sultan, KLCC and Pasar Seni, as well as
Dataran Merdeka.
Earlier this morning, police said they discovered an object they
suspected to be an explosive device at the Dayabumi complex, which is
just a stone’s throw away fromt he historic square.
But their bomb detector squad later said that the objects, up to
eight of which were found, were not explosives but car spare parts.
City Hall enforcers have put Dataran Merdeka under a 48-hour lockdown
beginning yesterday morning, while police also secured a court order
barring the use of the square and its bordering streets by Bersih
effective from yesterday until May 1.
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