By Leven Woon. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 25 November 2012.
Thousands of Green Walk marchers today gathered along Jalan Raja after their route to Dataran Merdeka were blocked off by the authorities. The marchers then decided to sit down by the road, facing a police barricade that stopped them from entering Dataran Merdeka which has been cordoned off since yesterday.
The police have also informed the marchers that no action would be taken as long as the police barricade remained unbreached. At the same time, the marchers also formed a volunteer team to form a human chain to keep the other marchers from breaching the police barricade. The marchers were been joined by some Pakatan leaders.
Earlier, the organisers said the marchers had gathered at the Sentul market at about 1pm today before embarking on the last leg of the 300km march from Kuantan which started 13 days ago. The march started on Nov 12 by Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack to campaign against the controversial Lynas rare earth plant in Gebeng as well as to highlight other environmental issues.
The crowd later broke into jubilation when Wong Tack arrived at the scene at 5.30pm. “The people have risen, the choice is in our hand,” he said while addressing the crowd. He said the marchers travelled through 15 townships during their trek, in which he saw more and more people coming forward to “defend the future of the country”. “We are not the last generation of this country, we will take responsibility, we will make the country better,” he told the cheering crowd.
The crowd, which at one point rose to about 10,000, then dispersed soon after, leaving only about 300 marchers behind as at 6pm... These marchers are planning to follow through with their original plan of camping at Dataran Merdeka for the night. Wong Tack said the marchers would follow instructions from the authorities but would not disperse.
“Tonight I decided to set foot here, I will talk to the nature. Tomorrow I’ll be here to witness the sunlight,” he said. However, Wong’s energetic speech was followed by Dang Wangi police chief Zainuddin Ahmad’s announcement that Wong would be investigated under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
He said Wong as the organiser has failed to apply for an assembly permit as required under Section 9(1) of the same act. Additionally, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) also said that the marchers were prohibited to step into Dataran Merdeka because it was undergoing renovation.
In reply, Wong argued that he was not the organiser of the march because “everyone came on their own initiative”. He also mocked the authorities for their “hospitality”. “Along the way, every schools, businesses, villages and mosques opened their doors for us. But now that we have arrived at Dataran, after 55 years of independence, we are not allowed to set foot inside and rest,” he said.
Wong also urged everyone to gather at the spot tomorrow for the “People’s Assembly” to decide the next move. Traffic along Jalan Raja too returned to normal at about 6.30pm.
Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said the group had breached the Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 as it was a street gathering and some of the participants have brought their children along. There were also no presence of police water cannon trucks or the Federal Reserve Units at Dataran Merdeka today.
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