PETALING JAYA, Sept 16 – “Red shirt” protesters have started gathering at various locations in the city centre on Wednesday (Sept 16) which the “red shirt” rally on Malaysia Day with scheduled in the afternoon. As a small groups of people started to trickling in as early as 7am.
In the same time, police also made their presence felt. Besides that, there were also Federal Reserve Unit personnel and trucks were seen on standby at strategic locations which the main location was at Bukit Bintang and Petaling Street, the gathering points for the protesters.
About 200 buses ferrying 8,000 people who gathered at Masjid Negara with carrying the Jalur Gemilang and placards written “Menolak campur tangan asing” (Reject foreign intervention) and “Pertahankan Hak Melayu” (Defend Malay rights). Most rally-goers at Masjid Negara convened at the mosque were from Terengganu and arrived in Kuala Lumpur as early as 4am today.
Masjid Negara is one of the four assembly points of the rally. Other assembly points are the Federal Territories Mosque, Putra World Trade Centre and Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex. The meeting points will be the Federal Territory Mosque, the National Mosque, Putra World Trade Centre and Wisma Kraftangan, before the groups converge at Padang Merbok. Meanwhile, the rally was declared legal after it was initially banned by the police.
The “red shirt” protest , dubbed the Malay Dignity Gathering (Himpunan Maruah Melayu), is organised by Malay non-government organisations led by Sungai Besar Umno chief Datuk Jamal Yunos to counter the Bersih 4 rally on Aug 29 and August 30 0n last month. That rally was organised by electoral reform group, Bersih, to call for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down. Many Malay critics of the Bersih rally have denounced it as part of an attempt by the Chinese to usurp political power.
