The organisers of the annual Labour Day rally were called in for questioning by the police today, under the Peaceful Assembly Act and the Penal Code.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee members S Arutchelvan and V Selvam as well as Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy arrived at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters for questioning at 3pm today and only came out at 5.30pm.

"They should not stress the police resources like this.

"I hope they don't waste public money and prosecute us. I think even calling us (in for questioning) today is very unnecessary," Arul said when met by reporters outside the police station after they were done with the questioning.

He pointed out that they notified the police about the rally on April 18 and had been in talks with them when organising the rally.

"They didn't ask for any special requirements like asking for permission from Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) or anything like that.

"DBKL was also there at the meeting and they said as long as we don't break any public property," Arul explained.

Even after the rally, he said the police had told them that there were no untoward incidents or seditious speech during the rally.

However, this investigation is being done after the police themselves lodged a report, he said.

There were actually many police officers present during the rally to help out with traffic, Doraisamy pointed out.

So, if their superiors had wanted to know about any details of the rally, they could have asked those officers.

The three are being investigated under Section 143 of the Penal Code for unlawful assembly as well as Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act which deals with failure to give a 10-day notice to police for rallies.

On May 1, PSM, backed by some 70 NGOs, organised the rally which saw more than 1,000 people hitting the streets to voice out against goods and services tax (GST) and urging that the minimum wage be increased to RM1,500.

The demonstrators had gathered at Maju Junction before marching to Medan Pasar, making stops at Sogo shopping mall and Dataran Merdeka.