Festive atmosphere at Blackout 505 finale in PJ

After eight successful Blackout 505 series of rallies nationwide, its ninth and final itineration - dubbed the ‘People’s Gathering’ - will be held at 5pm in Petaling Jaya today.

The rally, in which NGO Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) is among its main organisers, is to protest against alleged electoral fraud and misconduct in the recent general election.

Authorities have since investigated or charged those involved in organising the previous Blackout 505 rallies under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA), saying that insufficient notice have been given to the police.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (right) has said that today’s rally is an "act of provocation" and does not follow provisions under the PAA.

Prior rallies have regularly drawn five-figure crowd numbers, of which the largest was held at the Kelana Jaya stadium several kilometres away from today’s rally venue. Some 120,000 had attended that rally on May 8 - whether within the overcrowded stadium or beyond.

For today’s rally, the venue Dataran Petaling Jaya has a maximum standing capacity of about 80,000.

If the previous rallies are of any indication, the crowd tonight is likely to spill onto the surrounding streets as well.

LIVE REPORTS

5.15pm: The MC kick starts the event, proclaiming three main reasons for holding the rally today:

• to call for the resignation of the Election Commission (EC) leaders

• to demand re-election in constituencies where fraud has taken place

• to support Bersih's tribunal to probe allegations of vote rigging

The national anthem is expected to be sung shortly. The crowd is growing fast and there are now around 5,000 people in the field.

5pm: A middle-aged Chinese, who only wants to known as Low, is at the rally with his wife, both of whom are in black.

The couple say they are from Kuala Lumpur and arrive here as early as 2pm to avoid the traffic jam.

Low is unhappy with the alleged vote rigging at the recent 13th general election.

“Although we can do nothing now, we can at least show them our opposition (to the electoral fraud),” he tells Malaysiakini.

4.50pm: As the clock approaches to 5pm, the time for the event to officially kick starts, the people start gathering on the field.

The weather is getting cooler with the sun disappearing behind the clouds. There are about 300 people on the field with most of them wearing black. It is expected that the bulk of the crowd would appear later this evening.

The stage starts to play some music after the public announcement system is ready, which took hours to install.

4.45pm: The crowd has grown to about 500, and the atmosphere is proportionately more festive.

One of them, Yusri Mohd Yusof (right), says the rally is a means to express anger towards the Election Commission (EC) over the alleged electoral fraud.

The 41-year-old lecturer, who was also at the earlier rally at Kelana Jaya, added that this is expected to be the grandest of the Blackout 505 rallies, and he hopes to meet with his friends from states as faraway as Kelantan, Penang and Kedah.

When pointed out that Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that the rally does not meet the PAA's requirements, he retorted, "But we do, this is a peaceful rally.

"We are not causing chaos or holding a street demonstration. We are just gathering here in peace.

"It's just that, which party is this minister from? Whose side is he on? Of course, he doesn't agree with us," he said.  

4.42pm: Among the many stalls around the venue, one of them is attempting to gather 100,000 signatures of people who wish to express: "Give me liberty, or give me death". 

The person who is setting up the stall told Malaysiakini that the initiative is to get people to think about what are they willing to give up in the name of democracy.

 "All these while, people said that they want democracy, but no one has thought about what is it worth to them.

"So it is not just that we go to the street asking for democracy but without giving up anything. So we are trying to tell the whole world that there are people who think democracy is very valuable to them," he said.

However, he declined to disclose his name, or who is behind the initiative, or the number of people who have signed up since it started last week.

Among the information collected is name, contact, number, location, and signature.

He said once 100,000 signatures have been collected, it would be submitted to the Agong to pressure the government to look into the people's demands.

4.30pm: Several FRU trucks are spotted as they passed through the road next to the Dataran PJ field.

However, no police personnel could be seen near the field.

4.15pm: The number of people dress in black is growing. There are about hundreds of them but the field remain empty. Instead, the people gathered around the food stalls outside the field.

About 50 young protesters lined Persiaran Barat, chanting “Reformasi”, “Long Live People” and other slogans.

They are urging the cars passing through the main road to horn their vehicles in approval.

DAP leader Hew Kuan Yau aka 'Superman' is selling T-shirts with depict his face along with the Superman logo. From time to time, the popular ceramah speaker is asked by his fans to post for photographs.

3.01pm: About 100 people are milling around the field, mostly wearing black and seeking shelter from the weather - which is currently a sweltering 33 degrees Celsius with light winds and no cloud cover.

Some have even opted to do some shopping at the air-conditioned Amcorp Mall across the road, while wearing the Blackout 505 rallies’ signature black coloured shirts.

Thus far, there have been no signs of any police presence and organisers are still busy setting up the stage, but the sidewalks around the field and around the nearby Taman Jaya LRT station are already lined with stalls selling food and political paraphernalia.

Despite a notice promoting the rally - which is being circulated via social media - including a warning reading “Vuvuzelas are banned”, its incessant drone can be heard in the vicinity of the area.

Some supporters have also lined up along the street to chant political slogans, while passing motorists honk back.

Traffic is still smooth in the area, but the four-lane road outside the field is becoming increasingly congested as more cars park on the roadside, forcing what little traffic in the area to use only one lane in each direction.

[More to follow]