KUALA LUMPUR, 1 Jan: The Reduce the Cost of Living (Turun) Movement Assembly last night ended peacefully, without any unwanted incidents taking place.
The assembly which was attended by over 10,000 participants started with a procession from the Sogo shopping mall and Masjid Jamek, with chants and singing protesting the move by the Central Government to increase the people’s cost of living.
The procession also received cooperation from the police, who helped control traffic to ensure the smooth movement of people and vehicles passing through the area.
However, initially, the procession coming from Sogo was blocked by the police that tried to close the passage.
Eventually, the police opened a path, thus allowing the two groups to merge into a large group near Dataran Merdeka.
The group of demonstrators, which is estimated to far surpass the number of those watching the New Year’s Eve Concert in Dataran Merdeka, was once again stopped by the police near Dataran Merdeka.
However, after negotiations were carried out between the police and representatives of the assembly, at about 10.30pm, the police allowed the crowd to enter Dataran Merdeka.
However, no unwanted incidents occurred between the concert goers and assembly participants. At 11.30pm, the concert organisers decided to stop the New Year’s concert.
Meanwhile, there were several large groups of rally participants who witnessed the speeches of leaders from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and other NGOs.
Among the leaders from PR and the NGOs seen last night was the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli; the PAS Malaysia Youth Assembly Chief, Suhaizan Kayat; the Vice President of PAS, Salahuddin Ayub; the Coordinator of Youth Solidarity Malaysia, Badrul hisham Shaharin and so on.
In his speech, Rafizi said that the people should take to the streets to state their protest because the Prime Minister only understands the language of street protests.
“We will continue to fight rising prices of goods. If it does not go down, we shall bring down Najib,” said Rafizi when delivering his speech near the Sultan Abdul Samad building.
Meanwhile, shortly before the rally ended, Badrul Hisham Shaharin recited a pledge to continue protests if the government continues to ignore the protests of the people.
He urged participants of the assembly to comply with the laws and constitution of this country by not creating unpleasant situations when participating in the assembly.
To watch the assembly video, CLICK THIS.
