IGP to check claim police rejected notice for women’s march 4 times

Women’s March Malaysia holds marches every year to commemorate International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8.

KLANG: Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain says he will check on allegations that Dang Wangi police had rejected the notice from the organisers of a women’s march four times.

The notice for the march, which will take place in the capital on Saturday, was finally accepted this morning.

Razarudin said there have been occasions when organisers failed to fulfil certain requirements, such as obtaining permission to use the venue.

He said such conditions were something that police had to consider before accepting a notice.

“But I will check with the district police chief,” he told reporters at the Bandar Sultan Suleiman police station today.

Yesterday, Women’s March Malaysia (WMMY), which is organising the gathering, criticised the police for rejecting without explanation four applications requesting permission to hold a march this week.

On a related matter, Razarudin admitted that his men may have used the wrong term when stating that permits were needed to hold rallies.

“The district police chiefs may have mistakenly used the term ‘permit’ when they meant notice,” he said.

Under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012, organisers must give police at least a five days’ notice to hold a gathering. The notice period was originally 10 days before it was shortened.

Razarudin was responding to criticisms by former Bersih chairman Maria Chin Abdullah over the confusion after police told organisers that a permit was needed.

In a statement, the former Petaling Jaya MP urged the home ministry and Razarudin to educate the police that permits are no longer required for rallies.

“So, the issue here is about (the term used). It should be ‘notice’, not ‘permit’,” Razarudin said.

He also said while Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees the right to assemble peaceably, Article 10(2) requires the need to balance between the citizen’s right and maintaining public order.

He said Section 10 of the PAA 2012 also requires the organiser to fill in the forms where they have to answer 14 questions.