There was pushing and shoving between protestors and police, when protestors against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement were barred from marching up to Parliament gates.

About 100 protesters marched from the Tugu Negara about 200 metres away this morning, to protest the agreement which they say will “sell the country” and raise cost of healthcare .

In particular, the group is outraged with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s statement that the government agrees to the TPPA “in principle”.

However, tensions were quelled after protest leader and former PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan managed to broker a deal with the police.

The police then allowed the demonstration to take place by the side of Jalan Parlimen, as long as taffic is not blocked.

The group handed over a memorandum to opposition MPs and a representative of the BN Backbenchers’ Council, who met the protesters outside the Parliament gates.

The opposition MPs were PAS MPs Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena) and Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bahru), PSM’s Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, DAP MPs Charles Santiago (Klang), Kashturi Patto (Batu Kawan) and G Sivakumar (Batu Gajah), and PKR MPs Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (Kuala Langat) and Johari Abdullah (Sungai Petani).

The TPPA will be debated in Parliament before the government decides whether to sign it, following the conclusion of lengthy rounds of negotiatons earlier this month.

“We are deeply shocked that the prime minister in his 2016 budget speech said Malaysia agrees in principle to TPPA!” the memorandum reads.

The group questioned how the PM could agree to the deal without a parliamentary debate or a review of the cost-benefit analysis, which has yet to be released.

The TPPA is a free trade agreement negotiated by Malaysia and 11 other countries, including the United States.

Critics are concerned that, among others, the TPPA would raise the cost of healthcare, expose Malaysia to damaging industry-state disputes and erode the state’s ability to extend affirmative action for the bumiputera.