“Those that demonstrated outside at the national congress are like Muslims that went all the way to Mecca to demonstrate in front of the Kaaba,” he said during debate on the president’s policy speech.
Yesterday, a group of fewer than 50 supporters led by KS Kottapon held a demonstration outside the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre, which ended after it was blocked by party officials.
The peaceful gathering briefly turned unruly when a member of PKR’s security team appeared to manhandle an Agenda Daily reporter. The person went on to threaten other media representatives not to cover the protest or risk being barred from covering the congress.
Yesterday’s protest had been over the allegations of fraud in the party’s recently-concluded direct elections, which had resulted in the withdrawal of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim from the deputy presidential contest.
Zaid later quit PKR and claimed the party had failed to uphold democratic principles.
Another deputy presidential candidate, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, also threatened to pull out from the contest over the allegations changed his mind after discussions with party leaders but insisted that he did so under protest.
