KUALA LUMPUR: The Women's March Malaysia (WMMY) has criticised the police for denying its notice for this year's Women's march.
The WMMY 2024 Organising Committee said in a statement that it attempted to serve a notice of assembly to the police four times yesterday and today, but was denied.
"Last Friday, three attempts were made to notify the police about our march slated for March 9 at Sogo, KL.
"The first attempt was made by one of our committee members in the morning at Dang Wangi district police headquarters.
"Our documents were sighted by a Dang Wangi officer. However, he refused to officially stamp the said documents.
"Two further attempts were made later that day via a courier addressed to IPD Dang Wangi. However, the police refused to acknowledge our notice," it said.
The WMMY 2024 quoted Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which stated that every citizen had the right to freedom of speech and expression, and all citizens had the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.
It added that the committee had attempted to take all the necessary steps to inform relevant authorities and follow the rules and regulations in place before the march.
"A permit for assembly is no longer required after the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 was enacted to replace Sections 27, 27A, 27B and 27C of the Police Act 1967 (Act 344).
"Section 9(1) stipulates that an organiser shall notify the officer in charge of a police district of an assembly five days before it is held."
The committee also invited the media for a press conference at Dang Wangi district police headquarters tomorrow at 12.30pm following its final attempt to serve the notice.
"Tomorrow (March 4) marks the last day we can serve our notice. One final attempt to serve the notice will be made by ourselves and our lawyers to IPD Dang Wangi.
"We would like to cordially invite the media to a press conference tomorrow following our final attempt.
"We maintain that we should not be challenged or confronted with obstacles to merely carry out our responsibility as the organisers," it said.