The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Police in the Malaysian capital used water cannon and fired tear gas shells on Saturday to break up crowds gathering for a banned opposition rally to demand changes to the country's electoral system.

Hundreds of policemen, including riot police with shields and batons, guarded Kuala Lumpur's landmark Merdeka (Freedom) Square, where tens of thousands of people had planned to gather in one of Malaysia's biggest anti-government rallies since 1998.

"Police sprayed water cannons twice to disperse a crowd of about 500 protesters chanting slogans," said a Reuters witness who watched the incident outside a mosque guarded by about 50 riot police, while helicopters hovered overhead.

Nearby, another group of around 500 protesters, chiefly teenagers wearing yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Bersih," or "Clean" in Malay, marched in heavy rain towards the city's colonial-era railway station. They chanted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) and "Reformasi," a reform demand that was the war chant of 1998 opposition protests, while waving banners reading.

"Save Malaysia" and "Election Commission, stop your tricks."

Groups of demonstrators converged on the palace of Malaysia's king, where opposition leaders handed a list of electoral reform demands to a representative of the country's head of state.

Policemen in the crowd said it numbered less than 10,000, but organizers put the figure at 30,000.

Opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim said he was happy with the turnout, despite the government's condemnation of the protest.

"It is a good signal that Malaysians want freedom and democracy and want free and fair elections," the former deputy prime minister told reporters.

"Now we have no option but to appeal to his majesty," Anwar said after he and several opposition colleagues, including Hadi Awang of the hardline Islamist Parti Islam-se Malaysia and Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party, submitted their list.