The police have claimed success in managing today’s peaceful public demonstration in Kuala Lumpur against the fuel price hike saying their presence helped prevent ‘chaos’.

petrol price hike protest kg baru sogo 130608 17 "We managed to keep the protestors at bay and we also managed to stop them from marching towards KLCC," Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Zulkarnian Abdul Rahman ( left ) told reporters outside the Dang Wangi police station.

He said the protest rally although was peaceful, would have gotten out of hand and disrupted public order.

"If the protest rally wasn’t under our control, it would definitely have caused a lot of chaos," he alleged..

He also said no permit was given for the demonstration as the organisers had not applied for one.

petrol price hike protest kg baru sogo 130608 30 "They (PAS Youth) only sent a notice informing us that a protest was going to take place and they did not submit an application requesting for the permit," he said.

But despite dire warnings that stern action would be taken against the protestors, no arrests were made nor were there any clashes between the protestors and the police.

About 2,000 people had marched from the Kampung Baru mosque after Friday prayers to the iconic Twin Towers to protest against last week's sharp rise in petrol prices by the government.

However, police blocked Jalan Raja Abdullah, the main road leading to the Kuala Lumpur city centre - about 3km away.

Prime minister’s ‘complacency’

Faced with the roadblocks, the marchers, led by PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub, used alternative roads before gathering again at the party headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut where they dispersed peacefully at about 3.15pm.

petrol price hike protest kg baru sogo 130608 22 Although the gathering was considered illegal by law, Zulkarnian said police would only take action if their investigations revealed any wrongdoing by the marchers during the demonstration.

He said police estimated a crowd of a 1,500 had participated in the demonstration.

Zulkarnian also denied that police had blocked off Jalan Raja Abdullah, saying that only Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Raja Laut were closed off to traffic during the protest.

petrol price hike protest kg baru sogo 130608 12 Meanwhile, after a majority of the marchers had dispersed from the PAS headquarters at 3.15pm, a small crowd of about 30 protestors were still seen lingering behind calling for government action to reverse the fuel price hike.

They brandished a few banners with anti-establishment messages though a banner put up by them condemning the prime minister’s ‘complacency’ was pulled down by a senior police official amidst loud boos from the small crowd.

Some of the protestors then approached senior police officers present who listened to their pleas patiently.

The police left the scene soon after that drawing cheers from the crowd.

PAS member Muhammad Asri commented that he was not afraid of any police action during the march saying that ‘You have to do what you have to do’.

"(The price hike) will not affect people like me as much as it will affect the lower income group," said Asri who is a businessman.

Motorcyclists upset too

Small groups of motorcyclists were also seen gathered along Jalan Sultan Ismail anticipating that the crowd of protesters would pass and that they could join in.

petrol price hike protest kg baru sogo 130608 07 Some of them commented that they, too, had a voice and that they were not afraid of being caught by the riot police present.

"We are not happy and we, the public, have to show them (the government) that they have to look after our interests," they said.

Watch a 2-min video of the protest march

See map of the march

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