The “Turun Anwar” rally which happened today (July 26) reportedly drew an estimated 18,000 participants to Dataran Merdeka, far surpassing initial police projections.
Acting Kuala Lumpur Police Chief, Datuk Mohamed Usuf Jan, said the rally proceeded peacefully and in a controlled manner, despite some initial technical disagreements.
“We estimate that approximately 18,000 people attended. So far, no police reports have been filed, and everything went smoothly,” he said at a press conference today.
Mohamed Usuf expressed appreciation to all parties for complying with regulations and laws, and urged organisers to be more transparent and cooperative with authorities in future events.
“My advice to organisers is to be more transparent and inform us earlier about their intentions. We will assess the situation from a security standpoint, as that is entirely our responsibility,” he added.
He further stated that more than 3,000 police officers and personnel were deployed to maintain security throughout the rally.
“We increased our manpower to 3,000 officers to ensure the situation remained under control.”
When asked about follow-up actions, he said police would call the organisers for a post-event review to improve on any identified shortcomings.
“Whenever we have events like this, we hold meetings with all parties to evaluate areas that need improvement,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he also confirmed that police had received 60 reports prior to the rally, most of which opposed the event’s organisation. However, no reports were received during the rally itself.
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