Despite, or perhaps because of, Malaysian police declaring the mass protest illegal, this Saturday’s planned #KitaLawan rally will be under close scrutiny by representatives of the Malaysian Bar and international human rights organisations.
The #KitaLawan campaign, led by PKR Youth Movement (AMK) chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, said that the events on Saturday evening would be monitored by foreign representatives of human rights NGOs.
“We have informed local and international legal and human rights organisations of the plan to hold the #KitaLawan rally on March 7, 2015,” the group said in a statement quoted by The Malaysian Insider.
The group also asserts that the PDRM’s declaration of the rally as being illegal was “baseless” and maintained its constitutional right to gather peacefully.
“The opinions of lawyers and law experts are consistent in explaining that the job of the police is not to stop but to make it easier and help in the movement of the rally,” the statement continued.
Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Zainol Samah previously said the rally was illegal, due to organisers not giving his officers sufficient advance notice, as required by law.
The police had suggested three alternative venues for the #KitaLawan rally, but the organisers were adamant with holding the gathering in front of the Sogo shopping mall on Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.
The ban on the rally was imposed after police also received a report against it by the managemet of the Sogo building, on the grounds that it would disrupt commercial activities there and in in the area.
The #KitaLawan campaign was instigated after parliamentary Opposition leader and de facto PKR head Anwar Ibrahim was incarcerated for sodomy on February 10. The rally will also call for the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The rally is scheduled to begin at 3pm on Saturday.
More on CoconutsKL:
#KitaLawan’s pro-Anwar rally to proceed, with or without police approval
PKR denies it’s paying people to protest at #KitaLawan rally this Saturday
Police: Don’t attend Saturday’s #KitaLawan rally — it’s illegal
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