Bersih 4: Participants damage landscape

The Bersih 4 rally participants around Dataran Merdeka here have not only disrupted preparations for National Day celebrations but also damaged part of the landscape.

The rally supporters, who had stayed put despite the rain which started at 4pm, walked over flower beds and young plants.

At around 4.30pm, when the rain stopped, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad mingled with the rally goers at Central Market.

The former prime minister, who arrived by LRT, told a press conference later that he was there not as a supporter of Bersih but as a supporter of all Malaysians.

As at 7pm, many protesters had left Central Market. The crowd around Dataran Merdeka continued to be large, and a Bersih leader said: "We will stay until midnight as planned."

Meanwhile, Dang Wangi OCPD ACP Zainol Samah said no arrests had been made so far in Kuala Lumpur, adding: "The organisers have made an ‘akujanji’ (pledge) that the participants will disperse at midnight."

The Bersih 4 two-day rally that the police have declared as illegal is organised by the electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 which says it is fighting for clean and fair elections, and a clean government, among other things.

In Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, organisers stopped the rallies at midnight yesterday and at noon today, respectively.

Among the reasons given were the lack of response and that many protesters had brought along children whom the authorities did not allow to be present at the venues.

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