Police have summoned five people over the anti-Lynas rally in Kuantan last Sunday.
Among those summoned are activists from Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL), which organised the rally, as well as two assemblypersons.
This was confirmed by SMSL organiser Tan Bun Teet and PKR's Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung.
Apart from the two, others summoned are SMSL legal adviser Hon Kai Ping, SMSL secretary Chu Seng Poong and PKR's Teruntum assemblyperson Sim Chon Siang.
Lee said Pahang police had wanted to question him today, but he is in Kuala Lumpur and will only provide his statement tomorrow.
"I am of the opinion that the freedom of assembly is a human right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution," he told Malaysiakini.
After the protest at Taman Gelora last Sunday, Kuantan district police chief Mohamad Noor Yusof Ali had said police will investigate the organiser as it had submitted a 10-day notice, but failed to obtain permission from the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) for use of the venue in accordance to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
However, Lee claimed the council had ignored the organisers' request to use the venue.
"MPK did not give any written feedback to the application to use the area. As it is a public place, taxpayers and residents have a right to use the venue.
"MPK should provide cooperation and not make things difficult," he said, adding that police should not take issue with the peaceful protest based on technical reasons.
Tan said the five will give their statement to the police at Lee's service centre in Kuantan.
"We have not decided on a time yet. We'll need to see when Chean Chung returns to Kuantan," he said.
He also expressed regret at MPK not responding to their request to use Taman Gelora as a venue for their protest.
Malaysiakini has contacted Mohamad Noor for further comment.
Some 500 people had turned up at the rally last Sunday to protest Putrajaya's decision to extend Lynas' operating licence for its rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, for six months.
The government on Aug 15 announced the extension to Lynas' licence, but set a condition for it to come up with a construction and financing plan for a permanent deposit facility (PDF) to store its radioactive waste.
"The construction of the PDF must be expedited to minimise the risk from the water leach purification (WLP) stockpile that is now at more than 580,000 tonnes at the temporary residue storage facility, which is exposed to major floods," said the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).
AELB also required Lynas to shift its "cracking and leaching" phase of operations, which produces the radioactive waste, to overseas within four years.
It also asked Lynas to terminate its efforts to commercialise the waste by diluting them and turning them into fertiliser, and instructed for funds for this research to be channelled to the government as collateral.
The more stringent condition has not soothed anger as Harapan leaders had in the past promised to shut down the Lynas plant. - Mkini
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