KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More than 10,000 yellow-shirt protesters rallied Saturday in Kuala Lumpur seeking Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation over a financial scandal, undeterred by a police ban and the arrest of more than a dozen activists. The rally was organized by Bersih, a coalition of nongovernment organizations that want to reform and clean up Malaysia's electoral process. Bersih means "clean" in Malay, and Saturday's protests were the fifth phase of street protests the group has undertaken. “The government is very cowardly, trying to prevent a demonstration, which is the right of the people.”

Najib, who is attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Lima, Peru, has kept an iron grip since corruption allegations emerged two years ago involving the indebted 1MDB state fund that he founded. The fund is at the center of investigations in the U.S. and several other countries. “Is it not very clear that their struggle is false and the rally is just a movement of opposition parties hiding behind a so-called non-partisan NGO to fight a government elected by the people?” said Najib. Police said in a statement they raided the Bersih office on Friday and detained Chairwoman Maria Chin for investigation into “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”

Another Bersih official, Mandeep Singh, and 12 others including several politicians were also detained, mostly in connection with the rally and to prevent rioting, the police said. Both the rallies have been banned amid fears of a clash between Bersih’s yellow shirt supporters and Jamal’s red shirt group. Maria Chin Abdullah, the chair of pro-democracy group Bersih that organized the rally, was detained under Malaysia’s Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma, her lawyers said. The last rally that Bersih organized in August 2015 also demanded Najib’s resignation, attracting a crowd of 50,000 people, according to police estimates. Human rights group Amnesty International slammed the crackdown and called for the immediate release of the Bersih activists, describing them as prisoners of conscience. Najib ran into further trouble when lawsuits filed by the U.S. Justice Department in July said over $3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, which was founded by Najib, and that some of those funds flowed into the accounts of “Malaysian Official 1”, whom U.S. and Malaysian officials have identified as Najib. The U.S. government complaints also said that more than $700 million had landed in the accounts of “Malaysian Official 1.” They did not name the official, but appear to be referring to Najib.
Tens of thousands of people protest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, calling for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down amid an ongoing corruption scandal involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad.