The red shirt rally slated for Sept 16 has caused jitters among Chinese restaurants in the city, which have advised their clients to reschedule their wedding dinners fixed for that date.
According to Oriental Daily , one such restaurant at Shaw Parade, Pudu, advised that two wedding dinners to be held on that day be postponed due to concerns the rally may turn unruly.
Too Hon Kwong, who owns the Hee Lai Ton Restaurant there, said concerns that the rally may turn chaotic may discourage those invited for the wedding dinners from turning up.
"If there were seats prepared for 100 guests, maybe only 70 may turn up.
"So we asked if couples were willing to change the dates of their wedding dinners and got their consent," he said.
The report also quoted an affected newlywed who said he had surveyed among his friends and one-third said they may not come as they were worried about the situation.
"So after discussion with the restaurant, we decided to change the wedding dinner date," the 31-year-old said.
He said the wedding reception had been planned for over a year and Sept 16 was chosen as it was an "auspicious" day, on top of coinciding with Malaysia Day.
He added that even though police have promised to ensure public safety, the people are not convinced as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had said people can attend the protest.
The red shirt rally is intended as a counter-protest to the Bersih 4 rally on Aug 29 and 30, which among pother things demanded for Najib's resignation over the RM2.6 billion put in his personal bank accounts.
However the red shirt protest has taken a racial tone, accusing Bersih 4 of being "Chinese" and calling on Malays to hold their own gathering.
In an interesting turn of events today, the organisers invited Chinese and Indians to attend the gathering, which is now dubbed 'Perhimpunan Rakyat Bersatu'.
They are expected to gather in Bukit Bintang and Petaling Street before converging at Padang Merbok near Parliament.
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