PAD march on Parliament against charter change

Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

PAD march on Parliament against charter change

Thousands of supporters of People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched from the Government House to the Parliament on Monday night to oppose charter amendments.

Security at the Parliament has reportedly been stepped up to prevent the protesters from entering the compound.

The move came after PAD leaders announced the plan to expand the anti-government demonstration to the Parliament.

They wanted to pressure the government, which will deliver policy statement to the Parliament on Tuesday, and to oppose the rewrite of Article 291.

Article 291 states that one-fifth of MPs or one-fifth of both MPs and senators, or 50,000 people, have the right to lodge a motion with the parliament for a committee to amend the constitution. But the committee members must be drawn from the two houses of parliament.

Amending the article will allow outsiders with or without political affiliations to become involved.