Human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) called for a proportionate response by the authorities, such as through negotiated traffic diversions or staggered access to the scene.

“Such an approach would complement the government’s stated efforts to amend the Peaceful Assembly Act,” said Suaram executive director Azura Nasron.

Azura said recent public assemblies had faced restrictions. She said traffic disruption was a normal consequence of gatherings near political institutions and did not justify blanket bans that blocked access to Parliament.

She said the government’s responsibility was to “actively facilitate and enable” public assemblies held near their target, and not to let traffic convenience or bureaucratic coordination diminish the right to assemble.

The Suaram statement, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s comment, came a week after a commotion took place when more than 100 plantation workers from Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah and Johor marched to Parliament to submit a memorandum and a draft bill on housing for estate workers and their families.

Police had blocked the group from gathering at the gates of the Parliament compound but later allowed the workers to hand over the documents to deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran and opposition chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan.

During a scuffle between protesters and police, Parti Sosialis Malaysia deputy chairman S Arutchelvan fell and a police officer was injured. The following day, police summoned Arutchelvan to provide a statement on the incident.