The 2010 Air Untuk Rakyat rally was a rally held in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Malaysia, on December 5, 2010. The rally organizer, the Air Untuk Rakyat movement and federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat

Pakatan Rakyat

Pakatan Rakyat or PR is an informal Malaysian political coalition. It currently controls four state governments while in opposition to the ruling Barisan Nasional at the federal level....

, had called the protest regarding the privatization of water management in Selangor

Selangor

Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity") is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west...

 state which surrounds the capital, Kuala Lumpur and the federal government's bailout of SYABAS

Selangor water works

The Selangor water works provides water supply to the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The raw water are sourced mostly from surface water collected by several dams, lakes and rivers, and treated at nearby water treatment plants...

, a water distribution firm controlled by associate of the UMNO-led federal government crony Rozali Ismail. A secondary objective of the rally was to hand over a petition with over 250,000 signatures to the King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin to intervene against the privatization of the water services in the state at the Istana Negara.

According to various estimates the rally attracted between 2,500 to 10,000 people. The rally started gathering outside the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur at 9 o'clock, early Sunday morning on December 5, 2010.

Police actions

All the roads leading to Istana Negara and the National Mosque were guarded and blocked a day before by police causing a massive traffic jams in various parts of the city. At least 60 people were arrested by the Malaysian police who considered the gathering illegal. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.