December 08, 2011
A flashmob in action in Los Angeles, from file pic.
KUALA
LUMPUR, Dec 8 — Organisers of this Saturday’s flashmob to protest the
Peaceful Assembly Act have refused to call off the event at KLCC despite
being threatened with a court injunction.
Instead, Kill The Bill, a member of the Freedom to Assemble Campaign,
said it will go on with the event under another name as public
gatherings, including political ones, can be “peaceful, fun and
business-friendly”.
This weekend’s event, originally known as “Flashmob: 1,000 M’sians
Appreciate Xmas Tree w/o Police Permit - Human Rights Day”, will now be
known as “Malaysians Can Go Shopping and Pose with Xmas Trees without
Police Permit”.
“We gladly remove the words ‘flashmob’ and ‘human rights’ in the
understanding that these two common words for all civilised countries in
the 21st century may cause unnecessary distress to the KLCC management
or affiliated parties in Malaysia,” Kill The Bill said in a statement
today.
The group had earlier received a letter from law firm Zul Rafique and
Partners notifying them of Kuala Lumpur City Park Bhd, KLCC Urusharta
Sdn Bhd and Suria KLCC Sdn Bhd’s intention to apply for an injunction to
stop the flashmob.
KLCC’s management alleged that similar gatherings over the past two
weekends had “eroded and impeded the regular shoppers and visitors and
members of the public to the premises and thereby disrupted the business
operations of our... tenants”.
The letter also stated that organisers of Saturday’s gathering, held
in conjunction with Human Rights Day, would be held liable for all loss
and damage suffered as a result of the event.
Kill The Bill added that it would continue to organise creative
public gatherings to drive home the point that the need to apply for a
police permit or inform the police in advance for any meeting of three
or more people was “ridiculous”.
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