Police says rally tomorrow illegal, DCM I says it is not

The rally tomorrow, titled 'One Person One Vote Save Democracy', will start at 8pm at the Esplanade. - File pic

GEORGE TOWN, May 17 — The Penang Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government has decided to circumvent the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 by turning tomorrow’s planned rally into a “state government function” after it failed to obtain a permit from the police.

Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnon told a press conference today that since PR could not get a permit to organise the rally tomorrow, the state government will organise a “state event” instead.

“Tomorrow is not a political event but a state function to thank Penangites for their support,” he said.

He said since it is a state event, they do not need a permit from the police and all they need is to send a notice to inform the police of the event.

The rally tomorrow, titled “One Person One Vote Save Democracy”, will start at 8pm at the Esplanade.

It was originally organised by PR to thank voters for supporting them in the May 5 polls where the coalition had retained Penang with a higher majority in most seats and had won 30 out of 40 state seats.

Later in the afternoon, the police called a press conference to insist that the rally is illegal as the police had rejected PR’s application for a permit.

“We received the application on May 15 and the law is very clear, under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, they need to notify us 10 days before the event and they did not do so,” said George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng.

“We have met with the organisers again at noon today and advised them not to hold the rally as it is illegal but they insisted that they want to go ahead with it,” he said.

He said the police will be out in full force to protect the safety of the public and also to ensure traffic flow was not disrupted tomorrow evening.

When asked whether it is still illegal since it is now a state event and not a political rally, Gan refused to reply.

“What I can say is that we will act according to the law, that’s why I don’t want to answer any other questions on this,” he said.

He said a 17 points were identified for the police to control traffic flow to avoid massive traffic jams since more than 50,000 people are expected to turn up for the rally.

More than 60,000 people are expected to turn up for the event tomorrow which will feature speakers from the PR state government including Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

Shuttle vans are also prepared for alleviate traffic congestion so the public could park their vehicles near Komtar and take the shuttle vans to Esplanade from the bus station along Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong.

The shuttle vans will operate between 7.30pm and 12.30am.