Business goes on, no Red Shirts seen

Quiet day amidst strong police presence in disputed Chinatown shopping area.

KUALA LUMPUR: No Red Shirts protesters were seen in the disputed Chinatown shopping area of Petaling Street where rightist Malay groups had threatened to hold a protest demonstration.

Business carried on as usual, although the street was less crowded than on other weekends, with many city folk having gone away for the Hari Raya Haji holidays.

A heavy police presence was noted in the streets around the area, in the centre of Kuala Lumpur, with patrol cars making frequent rounds. However, there was no sign of the Federal Reserve Unit being deployed.

Dang Wangi police chief Zainol Samah said not a single member of the Red Shirts had been spotted in Petaling Street or the tourist area of Bukit Bintang, where a rowdy crowd of about 200 had carried out a riot a month ago, purportedly because a mobile phone customer had been cheated.

Zainol said police would continue to patrol and monitor the two areas.

The protest demonstration in Petaling Street today was to demand that more lots be allocated to Malay petty traders but Mohd Ali Baharom, who claimed to be the organiser, said on Friday night that the protest had been called off at the advice of the police, and to provide more time for the government to respond to their demands.

Another Red Shirts leader, Sungai Baru Umno division leader Jamal Yunos, was arrested and held in custody on crime prevention laws last night after he had threatened that a riot would break out in Petaling Street over the lack of lots for Malay traders.

On September 16, a group of red-shirted protesters had tried to force their way past a police barricade at the entrance of Petaling Street while thousands of other Red Shirts took part in the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu demonstration at Padang Merbok.

The riot squad turned on water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Jamal’s aide told Malaysiakini today that he was expected to be released from custody later this evening.