With the boom of cannons from the Parliament building audible in the background, Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam addressed a crowd of up to 100 supporters who gathered at a food court near Bukit Aman, about 2km away from the Parliament building.

They had initial plans to gather along Jalan Parlimen, at the junction leading up to the Parliament building, to await the arrival of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V, who was scheduled to arrive for the opening of the current parliamentary session.

Lokman said they only wanted to show their "solidarity" and give the Agong "moral support" in the wake of alleged attacks against the monarchy.

"We tried (to move) twice but we were stopped by the police," said Lokman who claimed that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had instructed the police to prevent them from showing loyalty to the Agong.

"We just wanted to raise our banners to show support for the Agong.

"You can see for yourselves that these are messages to show moral support, to show our loyalty to the Agong," said Lokman, who is head of the Umno-linked NGO Pemantau Baru.

He insisted that all they wanted to do was stand and cry out "Daulat Tuanku" three times as the Agong's official car passed by.

"If anyone of us did anything more than that, then we ourselves would 'arrest' them and hand them to the police," he said.

Many in the crowd, mostly dressed in black, wore sandwich-board signs with the messages: "Rakyat dan Raja Berpisah Tiada", "Kembalikan Kuasa Agong" and "Daulat Tuanku."

Among them were Umno leader Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz and local actress Ellie Suriati Omar (photo), who have been active in the recent series of rallies to show support for former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The crowd gathered at about 8am but failed to secure approval from the police to start the march.

About 9.30am, Lokman once again attempted to lead the crowd to march but was blocked by police officers.

In their negotiations with the police, Tun Faisal was overheard saying there was no valid reason to stop the march as they have a noble cause to defend the royal institution, unlike the previous series of electoral reform rallies organised by Bersih.

Tun Faisal also accused Bersih and their supporters of previous attempts to incite hatred towards the police, but yet their rallies were allowed to proceed.

Lokman eventually issued a dispersal call some 15 minutes later, before he formally addressed the media.

"If we wanted to crash (rempuh) we could do it, but if we do, then they (government under Mahathir) will create a negative perception about us.

"So we will go for drinks after this and disperse peacefully," he said.

As Lokman was speaking, at around 10am, a smaller group of about 15 supporters entered the area and cheered, saying that their "mission was accomplished" as they somehow managed to slip through the police officers and waved at the Agong's car.

The crowd eventually dispersed and cleared the area about 10.30am.