PERMATANG PAUH, May 2 ― Fiery speeches by PKR leaders during yesterday’s May Day rally in Kuala Lumpur prompted a purported “anarchist group” to hurl smoke bombs and disrupt the otherwise peaceful protest against the Goods and Services Tax, the home minister claimed today.

Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi added that the ruling Barisan Nasional was not to blame for the mass arrests resulting from the event, which he added has tainted the image of PKR ahead of the by-election here.

“This has nothing to do with Barisan Nasional, in fact this tarnishes the image of the candidate going against Barisan Nasional because the leaders of their party especially PKR gave speeches that provoked to the demonstrators,” he said  during a press conference at Politeknik Seberang Perai today, referring to PKR candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

“We know the political leaders only spoke and only had speeches, but the police must take immediate action against these anarchist groups as they give a bad image to our country, they also want to depict as if Malaysia is not a peaceful country,” he added.

The rally by civil society movement #KitaLawan kicked off shortly after 2.30pm yesterday afternoon from several meeting points and drew a reported crowd of nearly 10,000 participants to the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Although there were no reports of injuries, police claimed on their official Facebook account after the event that the rally was not fully under control, citing incidents of alleged vandalism and smoke bombs being thrown by the protesters to back up its claim.

Zahid today claimed that those behind the alleged disruption were an anarchist group who were waiting to retaliate with coloured smoke bombs in the event authorities used the water cannons and tear gas on the crowd.

Although the police did not use such force during the rally, the  group went ahead and threw the coloured smoke bombs anyway, Zahid asserted.

“Police were consulted, (they were told) to have their rally at Padang Merbok but their stubbornness is very obvious, especially the anarchist groups,” he said.

“Even with the Peaceful Assembly Act, that's not an excuse to have assembly without control,” he added, referring to the 2012 Peaceful Assembly Act that allows for peaceful assemblies without the need for a permit.

Zahid also confirmed that legal action will be taken against the “anarchist group”, saying there were pictures and witnesses who could identify the perpetrators.

In the latest update provided by police, 32 individuals including prominent activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke and Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary-general S. Arutchelvan were arrested over the protest, with their detention being under the Sedition Act and Section 143 of the Penal Code.

Yesterday, KL CID chief Senior Asst Comm Zainuddin Ahmad said the arrests were carried out at 7.30pm — over two hours after the rally ended — and confirmed police had seized several smoke bombs.

Arrests were made under Sections 143, 427 and 448 of the Penal Code, Section 4 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act.