KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Police will not hesitate to “intervene” if the planned overnight rally this month by polls reform group Bersih 2.0 turns seditious, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said today.

He said police will allow the rally to take place with the condition that it is done according to the law, but said they will not tolerate any call on the public to overthrow the government through illegal means.

“If the rally voices out anything seditious, encourages the public to bring down the government through illegal means, then the police will have to intervene.”

Noor Rashid said the duration of the planned rally, which is scheduled to take place at Dataran Merdeka from August 29 to 30, does not matter so as long as it is conducted in accordance with the law.

“If they want to do a peaceful assembly that respects the law they can do it three days, a week or a month no one will stop them.

“But if you start disturbing the peace, disrupt people’s lives and block access for people, this is disturbance to peace.”

Noor Rashid did not, however, state clearly if the demands to be made by Bersih 2.0 during the rally are deemed seditious.

Yesterday, the group said its latest rally is to demand free elections and protest Putrajaya’s handling of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Some of its backers are also calling for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to step down due to his link to the 1MDB scandal. Najib sits on the firm's advisory board.

Although Noor Rashid did not specifically mention Bersih 2.0’s demands, he said any dissatisfaction towards the government should be channeled through the “right avenue”.

“They must respect the law,” he said.

Bersih 2.0 also announced yesterday that participants of rally are to gather at Brickfields, Pasar Seni, Sogo, Masjid Negara and Dataran Maybank before marching towards historic Dataran Merdeka.

The electoral watchdog is also holding simultaneous rallies in Kuching, Sarawak, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The last Bersih rally three years ago ahead of the 13th general election was estimated by its organisers to have drawn some 50,000 participants in the national capital although government estimates placed the figure far lower.