On May 26th, 2011, Bersih leadership published their intentions to hold a rally on July 9th for electoral reform in response to the election

in April of that same year.

Two groups have expressed displeasure and intentions to hold counter rallies on the same date and location.

One is known as Perkasa, a reportedly militant group.

The other is a United Malay National Organization (UMNO) Youth group known as the Patriots, a more moderate group who also call for

electoral reforms.

To date, yellow shirts worn by Bersih supporters or bearing the logo of the Bersih campaign have been declared illegal. Over a hundred

people wearing them have been detained, questioned or otherwise arrested.

In response to rising tensions coming both from the organizations threatening to counter the Bersih activities as well as police action,

the King, Yang di-Pertuan Agong, released a statement urging moderation on all sides.

thestar.com.my/news/stor... A translation of it may be found here.

In response, both Perkasa and the Patriots stated that they would cancel their rallies if Bersih would. Bersih leadership met with the King

shortly afterwards, and came to the agreement that they would use a stadium to hold their rally instead of a street demonstration.

However, despite this, the demonstration has been repeatedly termed illegal, arrests of those wearing yellow have continued and attempts

to secure the Merdeka Stadium have failed. Road blocks have been set up by the police and have been reportedly been searching people for

weapons and yellow shirts.

bersih.org/wp-content/up...

Above is the rejection letter for the permission to use the stadium for the Bersih rally.

There are also reports of the mainstream media whose licensure is controlled by the government having been put under direct threat to both

paint Bersih activities in a negative light, and only refer to them as an "illegal gathering" but have been told to report their content or

face consequences.

shared.malaysiakini.com/... Further reading on this may be found here.

Also, the army has been practicing crowd control drills involving live ammunition and signs telling people to disperse or be shot at.

These have been denied to have any relation with the Bersih rally.

It is worth mentioning that the country has been under Emergency Ordinance, or martial law since 1969, which makes any gathering of more

3 people illegal, no matter what the intent.

Bersih, however, has been the only group out of the three who have been considered an illegal gathering

I know I must have missed key points and salient information, there really and honestly is so much.

I will be updating with news as I find it as well as things that I have missed.