Tens of thousands of people gathered in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Nov 10 to call for a clean and fair elections. Malaysiakini provides a step-by-step account of the march.

The Masjid Jamek group

By 2.10pm, 1,000 protesters had gathered in front of Masjid Jamek, near the LRT station. The police fired, without warning, chemical-laced water. Riot police were in formation outside the mosque. Another 500 protesters were inside the nearby Masjid India.

By 2.25pm, the crowd had increased to 2,000 after the group inside the Masjid Jamek area came out. The water cannon was fired several times as they came out. Protesters seeking refuge inside the Masjid Jamek LRT station also came out.

At 2.39pm, the police began firing several canisters of tear gas at the crowd in addition to discharging the chemical-laced water. At least, four rounds of tear gas were fired. By 2.45pm, the police had taken over the road outside Masjid Jamek after firing about a dozen rounds of tear gas.

Most of the protesters ran into Jalan Masjid India. Despite the chaos, the crowd only increased in number. No acts of retaliation or violence was observed.

From there, they converged along Jalan Raja Laut opposite Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Trying to go into the Dataran Merdeka area, they were again faced by FRU trucks and hit by tear gas and chemical-laced water.

Forced to retreat, they headed down Jalan Raja Laut away from Dataran Merdeka pursued by the water cannon trucks and FRU personnel.

Upon reaching the Sime Darby building on Jalan Sultan Ismail after 3pm, they turned left onto Jalan Kuching. By this time, the crowd had swollen to 5,000. From there, they proceeded without any disturbance by the police to Istana Negara.

The Masjid Jamek group was the hardest hit by the police.

The Sogo group

About 5,000 protesters began marching at 2:30pm from the Sogo department store on Jalan Raja Laut near Pertama Complex. They were blocked at the end of the road from entering Dataran Merdeka.

They turned right after the Kuala Lumpur City Hall building onto Jalan Tun Perak before turning left onto Jalan Kuching in the direction of Masjid Negara. They passed Dataran Merdeka on the right.

They joined the last group who were held up at Masjid Negara after police closed the gates to prevent them from leaving.

The main group of people in Masjid Negara - numbering about 10,000 - had already left.

The Pasar Seni group

At 2:30pm, about 500 protesters came out from Pasar Seni (Central Market) and marched towards Dataran Merdeka in the heavy rain. They turned left onto Jalan Pasar and passed the Bar Auditorium on the left. Behind them, near the OCBC building, some 100 riot police were stationed. The group was led by Bersih leaders Tian Chua, Mahfuz Omar and Irene Fernandez, who was on a wheelchair (right).

The marchers were met by the 100 riot police personnel who had blocked the Jalan Pasar entrance to Dataran Merdeka about 50 metres from the square.

Tian and others charged the police to try to break the lines, but were unable to penetrate the second line of the barricade.

A stand-off ensued as more people gathered. The crowd grew in number. Among them were other Bersih leaders such as Maria Chin Abdullah and Elizabeth Wong.

After some time, they broke up into small groups away from the stand-off with the riot police on Jalan Pasar, to go into a walkway between Bank Pertanian Malaysia in Menara Patriot and the old Kuala Lumpur Court Registry. They ended up on Jalan Raja.

Only about 30 people, including wheelchair-bound Fernandez, were left on Jalan Pasar arguing with the police. Dataran Merdeka was empty, by 3pm, save for the police.

The original Central Market crowd, upon reaching and proceeding down Jalan Raja, grew to about 2,000. They walked past Masjid Negara towards Istana Negara.

The Masjid Negara group

2.30pm: About 10,000 people, mostly PAS members and supporters, who were at Masjid Negara began marching to Istana Negara, led by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, secretary-general Kamaruddin Jaffar, and the party's Youth leaders.

With Bersih members acting as traffic wardens, they split into two groups using two different routes. One group continued on Jalan Maharajalela and, upon reaching Wisma Tun Sambanthan, turned right into Kampung Attap.

The other group turned right after Masjid Negara to proceed down the highway. They met up with the other group before turning into Jalan Istana.

Arrival

3.15pm: Upon arrival within 200 meters of Istana Negara, the protesters were met and held back by about 150 riot police personnel with two water cannon trucks.

There was a tense stand-off between the crowd - which had reached 40,000 after the arrival of groups from Masjid Negara, Central Market, Sogo and Masjid Jamek - and the police.

About 20,000 others had also joined the marchers from different points of Kuala Lumpur.

Three police helicopters hovered above the procession.
At 3:20pm, a Bersih delegation, which had by then included Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang from DAP and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and publicity secretary Teresa Kok were allowed to approach the gates of Istana Negara.

They were joined by PKR secretary-general Khalid Ibrahim, vice-president R Sivarasa, PAS' Abdul Hadi, Nasharuddin and party research head Dr Zulkifli Ahmad as well as activist group Pengerak Demokrasi's coordinator Anuar Tahir.

Brickfields district police chief Sulaiman Junaidi and other senior police officers negotiated with the Bersih delegation about 100 meters of Istana Negara.

The delegation then waited for the arrival of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and PAS central council member Syed Azman Syed Nawawi. They were held up by the traffic jam.

Sulaiman and the other senior police officers warned the Bersih delegates that the crowd would be dispersed with force if they do not submit the memorandum immediately.

Khalid pleaded for five more minutes as the memorandum was with Anwar.

At 3.55pm, Anwar arrived on a motorbike to join the other leaders. He and Hadi gave a short speech respectively before moving to the palace gate.

At about 4pm, the Bersih delegation led by Anwar handed the memorandum to the King's representative at the gates of Istana Negara. Immediately after this, the organisers asked the crowd to disperse.

The rally was declared over despite thousands more were marching towards Istana Negara. They were told to go home. Bersih leaders described the event as a resounding success.


Map - how the marchers get to Istana
SPECIAL REPORT: Bersih's Nov 10 mass rally