According to Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim, the safety measures that the men in blue have set in place include the deployment of 7,000 officers to Dataran Merdeka and its surrounding areas.

If the situation gets out of hand, he added, the police will be ready to take “drastic action” and arrest the troublemakers.

“We are assessing the situation and will do so until the end (of the rally).

“If from our assessments and the intelligence we gather, we find that this activity can threaten public peace and create chaos, perhaps in the form of fights between the opposing parties, we will take action.

“If we have to, in order to stop fights or riots, we will take drastic action, which will include arresting those responsible,” he told a press conference at Seri Pacific Hotel here today.

Noor Rashid said the police had received information that some parties, either supporters of the Red Shirts or Bersih 5, may infiltrate the other side with the aim to create chaos.

They are also aware of certain parties employing gangsters and unregistered organisations to attend the rally, which initially was said to be a peaceful one.

He was responding to questions regarding the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling yesterday, that police were legally bound to ensure the Red Shirts movement held its counter rally at a different location.

A report by Malay Mail Online said Justice Nantha Balan, in reading out the ruling, cited Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act that stated the police must redirect any counter rallies if they knew that clashes were imminent.

KL police chief Amar Singh Ishar Singh, on the other hand, said in order to prevent clashes between the groups expected to attend tomorrow’s rally, 10 roads will be closed to the public and vehicles will be diverted to other roads.

He said to date, police had been informed that besides Bersih 5 and the Red Shirts, two other groups, the White Shirts and Black Shirts, will also gather at Dataran Merdeka.

“There is a possibility that there might be altercations (between the groups), so we advise the groups not to proceed with the rallies.

“We also advise the public not to attend them,” he said in a separate press conference this afternoon.

Apart from the road closures, several areas have been declared as “no entry zones”, he added.

The “no entry” zones are:

• Dataran Maybank Bangsar
• Little India, Brickfields
• Masjid Negara
• Muzium Negara
• Sogo
• Dataran Merdeka
• Parliament
• Bank Negara
• Jalan Pudu
• PWTC
• Chow Kit