Following a police rebuke against interfering in the red shirt rally, the number of NGO volunteers to be sent to monitor the rally has been scaled back to 500 from 2,500.

Pro-Rakyat's 2,000 volunteers will no longer be deployed on Sept 16 to monitor the red shirt rally, said Otai Reformasi media spokesperson Shaiful Ariffin.

"We have asked them (Pro-Rakyat volunteers) to not be deployed on the day of the rally, because they are mostly young and hot-blooded. We don't want to start any provocation or instigation.

"We are not fighting them (red shirt rally) with violence but we are fighting them with kindness," Saiful ( photo ) said in a press conference at Petaling Street today.

Otai Reformasi will still be stationing their 500 volunteers around Petaling Street tomorrow, he confirmed, and they will all be older and more cool-headed.

"I can guarantee 100 percent that any provocation or instigation will not come from Otai," he stressed.

Otai Reformasi work secretary Abdul Razak Ismail also explained again that they will comply with the inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar's warning against "playing cop".

They will only be keeping an eye out in case of any untoward incidents, he said, and the volunteers will only be armed with three things: their mobile phone, video camera and camera.

"And our bare hands," he added.

While the IGP commended them yesterday for wanting to ensure nobody is harmed, he had also cautioned them against interfering with the rally as it could aggravate the situation.

"Don't do police work," he had said.

Earlier today, Otai Reformasi core group leader Ronnie Liu had responded to the IGP's warning, saying that they never intended to take over the duty and responsibility of the police.

"They will act like what our friends in the media do, that is, ready with cameras and video recorders to capture any incidents and report to the police as and when necessary," he had explained.