A Pakatan Rakyat ceramah site in Gombak was cordoned off by the police this morning, in what appears to be a pre-emptive move against a public talk on the Bersih 2.0 rally.

PKR’s Batu Caves assemblyperson Amirudin Shari said officers came in two cars about 10.30am and immediately put up yellow tape around the Kampung Wira Damai village hall and the adjacent field.

"They told us we could not use the venue for the ceramah (political talk) tonight.

NONE "We had applied for the (ceramah) permit under the name of Bersih two or three weeks ago, before the authorities decided the word 'Bersih' was not allowed," he said when contacted.

Amirudin said the police did not give a clear reason why the venue was sealed off, but believes that it has something to do with the use of the word ‘Bersih’.

The residents’ association of the village had attempted to get a meeting with Gombak police chief ACP Abdul Rahim Abdullah through their lawyers, Zulkarnain Lukman and Zulhazmi Shariff, to seek an explanation.

Zulkarnain said the officer had refused to meet them although they had waited for one hour, prompting them to lodge a police report against him.   

Bernama , later reported Abdul Rahim as saying the police had cordoned off the area "to prevent people from coming in."

He said an application made by Gombak Pas Youth to hold a public talk there had not been approved in the interest of public order and security.

"No permit has been issued and I hope the people will not go there for the proposed ceramah (talk)," said Abdul Rahim.

Police pre-emptive measures denounced

The Selangor government has denounced the police pre-emptive measures and expressed concern that their community programmes this weekend will be disrupted.

"I will meet with the Inspector General of Police to make sure that all programmes in Selangor go on without a hitch," said Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim in a tweet today.

NONE Contacted by Malaysiakini , exco member Elizabeth Wong ( right ) said that the state has been informed by police that this is a new directive.

"We are requesting a copy of the directive so we know what we can or cannot do," she said.

At a press conference earlier, senior exco member Teresa Kok said that police told her that she cannot hold a townhall meeting scheduled for this Saturday at an open field in USJ18, and asked her to move it indoors.

The meeting, which is she holds regularly at the venue to accommodate the large crowds, has now been moved to a smaller venue in USJ17.

"The Menteri Besar too has a programme this Friday in Hulu Selangor. These are normal programmes by the state but the police are assuming that they all have something to do with Bersih," Wong said.

Separately, organisers of a PAS prayer and ceramah event tonight at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam are expecting no trouble as a police permit was issued today.

"We applied the permit three days ago and received it this afternoon," said Selangor PAS Youth information chief Ahmad Shahrum Md Daud.

Later in the evening, the Kg Wira Damai ceramah organisers in a last-minute decision switched the venue to the PAS service centre in nearby Kampung Nahkoda.

The change in venue, however, forced the proceedings to start at a quarter past 10pm, as supporters and ceramah-goers trickled in slowly to the small one-story building where the event was held.

Early birds managed to enjoy a free screening of the Malaysia-Chinese Taipei World Cup qualifier on a projector screen, briefly putting behind the politics as they cheered on the home boys and their two spectacular goals.

The focus, however, quickly came back to the event, as four speakers from PAS and PKR went on an all-out campaign to promote Bersih 2.0 and encourage the 100-odd in attendance to spread the word and build support for the July 9 rally.

Among the speakers were Amirudin, PAS information chief Idris Ahmad, PAS Gombak chief Saleh Huddin Nasir and PAS Gombak's youth chief Zulkifli Ahmad.

Though some party workers were seen anxiously on the lookout for a possible police crackdown, the ceramah ended without incident at 12am.

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