Pakatan’s Black 505 rally postponed to June 22
Syed Jaymal Zahiid, TMI
The planned mammoth rally to protest alleged polls fraudulence slated for this Saturday will be postponed to June 22 after Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) claimed the venue has been booked for another function, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) revealed today.
PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli said the decision was made after taking into consideration the appeals made by the event’s organisers.
The move comes just after DBKL refused to grant permission to use Padang Merbok for the rally with Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor insisting that the open field was unsuitable for the venue.
“I am taking into consideration the appeals made by parties who had already planned programmes at Padang Merbok on June 15.
“After discussing with the Dang Wangi police headquarters the organisers have decided to change the date of the Black 505 peaceful rally to the next weekend, that is on June 22, and it will start at noon,” Rafizi told a press conference at PKR’s headquarters here.
The Pandan MP revealed that a notice for the rally had already been submitted to DBKL last Friday, which is two days after the notice for the June 15 rally was submitted.
Rafizi said City Hall had confirmed with the rally organisers that no other event will take place there on June 22.
“So there is no excuse for DBKL and the federal territories minister to play politics and delay our application.
“I would like to remind the minister that a big majority of Federal Territories residents are with Pakatan Rakyat and he must respect the wishes of the residents to hold a peaceful rally at Padang Merbok which belongs to the people,” he said.
Rafizi stressed that the decision to hold the protest next week is “final”.
On Saturday, Tengku Adnan said that City Hall would not permit PR to use Padang Merbok for its June 15 rally.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general denied, however, that this was intended to stop the federal opposition pact from proceeding with the event, saying instead that the venue was not suitable as it was an open space.
He advised PR to move its rally to an indoor venue, such as a stadium or other locations deemed more appropriate.
