Police have obtained a restraining order from the court to stop Coalition Against Inflation (Protes) from gathering at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre tomorrow.

The order was obtained by the Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman from the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court. Those in breach of the order can be cited for contempt.

According to Zulkarnain, the court order names five representatives of Protes - Dr Hatta Ramli, Tian Chua, S Arutchelvan, Simon Ooi and Ronnie Liew - as being banned from the planned rally.

The order also extends to any “associate member” of Protes and anyone suspected of participating in the rally, he added.

“If they ignore the order, they can be detained immediately,” said Zulkarnain, according to Bernama.

Zulkarnain said the two restricted zone is within a one-kilometre radius of the KLCC building emcompassing Jalan Ampang, Jalan Lumba Kuda, Jalan P Ramlee and the KLCC Assyakirin Mosque.

Meet at Ampang Park

The court order was the third of its kind following similar orders to ban the Nov 25 Hindraf rally and the Dec 11 Bersih gathering at Parliament.

The police are also expected to mount numerous roadblocks in order to screen vehicles entering the city and weed out potential “troublemakers”.

Organisers for the rally are however unperturbed by the latest developments and have vowed to proceed with the gathering.

“We would meet up at Ampang Park and try to walk to KLCC from there,” said Arutchelvan, when contacted.

The rally today was meant to protest against rising prices of goods and services as well as to protest against an impending hike in fuel prices.