Crowd swells to 1,000 at second night’s vigil for Maria (videos)

About a thousand people thronged Dataran Merdeka for the second night running – about double the number who reportedly turned up on the first night – to express their solidarity with Maria Chin Abdullah.

Among those who attended the vigil last night was Ambiga Sreenevasan (see video above), who vowed, “And because of that nasty genius – I don’t know who that genius is who thought of putting Maria under Sosma – we are going to have Bersih every day until they release her. We will not stop. They tried to stop one day (on 19 November); now they have caused us to have Bersih every day – and we will do it.”

The growing number of participants at these vigils has prompted the Kuala Lumpur mayor to reportedly shut down Dataran every night from tomorrow until 29 November.

Maria is being detained without trial – and is believed to be held in solitary confinement – under Section 124C of the draconian security law, Sosma, for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

Also present was veteran activist Hishamuddin Rais:

And student activist Anis Syafiqah:

Ambiga also urged women to attend a walk at 10am today from Padang Merbok to Parliament to hand over a memorandum:

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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