Vice-Chairman of the Malaysian Taxi Drivers Transformation Association (Pers1m) Kamaruddin Mohd Hussain said the organiser of the rally did not inform protesters whether they had obtained a permit for the illegal rally.

“The organiser kept it a secret and the invitation was only sent out via WhatsApp.

“We don’t know if there was a permit. I only attended because the protest was to fight for taxi drivers’ rights,” he told FMT.

Kamaruddin said the police, however, accorded them good treatment while in the lock-up.

“They gave us very good treatment. They only warned us not to be violent. We respect the police.”

The protest against GrabCar and Uber began about 10am this morning. Less than half an hour later, Jalan Bukit Bintang was choked with traffic as more than 100 cabbies parked their vehicles along the road.

The five were arrested after they defied police orders to disperse and the stretch of road was reopened for traffic about 12.30pm.