Expect more to come, says opposition
Expect more anti-fuel price hike protest rallies in the coming three weeks, PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub has warned the government.
Expect more anti-fuel price hike protest rallies in the coming three weeks, PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub has warned the government.
In a press conference held at the party’s headquarters after
today’s rally
, Salahuddin vowed that the Pakatan Rakyat opposition will continue to hold more protests to build up the momentum for the
mammoth gathering
scheduled to take place on July 5.
“The rakyat will continue to hold protests against the unjust decision of the BN government to increase the price of petrol, and they will continue to do so until the price is eventually slashed,” said the Kubang Kerian MP.
He said the upcoming protests will also be used to promote the July 5 ‘one million people’ gathering.
Meanwhile, PAS Batu Burok state assemblyperson and party central committee member Syed Azman Syed Nawawi ( photo, right ) also revealed at the press conference that Pakatan leaders will be holding a road show to publicise the July 5 gathering.
“This Sunday at the Stadium Bandaraya in Penang, Pakatan leaders led by PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim will be giving a ceramah as part of the nationwide road show to promote the July 5 gathering,” said Syed Azman.
He added that other top leaders including DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang will be attending the Sunday’s event.
Can they mobilise 1 mil people?
The Coalition Against Inflation (Protes), a group headed by several Pakatan party members, will also kick off its nationwide roadshows against the sharp hike in fuel prices tomorrow in Seremban .
Both Syed Azman and Salahuddin were adamant, when pressed by journalists, that the organisers would be able to mobilise one million people to the rally.
“Following today’s rally, I’m confident that we can achieve our goal. What happened today is a testament of what Malaysians can do,” said Salahuddin.
The PAS Youth chief is also pleased that the rally today ended without any violence. Unlike previous rallies, not a single tear-gas canister was fired.
“The march went off peacefully and we hope that our future protests will be the same,” he said.
At today’s rally, despite dire warnings that stern action would be taken against the protestors, no arrests were made nor were there any clashes between the protestors and the police.
Surprisingly, a number of traffic police officers were seen helping the crowd crossed busy intersections by controlling the flow of traffic.
Salahuddin commended the police for exercising restraint today and he hoped that they would do same at future protests.
The rally today, one of many to be held in the coming weeks, is to protest last week’s 41 percent hike in the price of petrol, raising it to RM2.70 per litre at the pumps.
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