Malaysia police use water cannon at Anwar rally

Mohamadiah Sohod, 33, a government worker from southern Johor state, said he was upset because police had refused to issue a permit for the rally. "This is the people's right, to assemble and air their grievances," he added.

Police effectively shut down the city centre, throwing up barricades on main roads to halt cars and turn away protesters, although crowds dispersed peacefully after the protest ended.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Friday the government would not tolerate street demonstrations. "They are challenging the patience of the people who want the country to be peaceful and stable," he said.

Previous protests of similar scale were anti-government rallies led by Anwar in 1998 before his arrest and jailing.

The rally was organized by Bersih, a loose coalition of 26 opposition parties and non-government groups that is pushing for reforms to an electoral process it says favors the ruling coalition.

Abdullah won a record victory in a 2004 election, and is widely expected to call snap polls in early 2008.

Two people were seriously injured in September when police opened fire to disperse rioters at a Bersih rally in the northeastern state of Terengganu.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Jahabar Sadiq; Writing by Clarence Fernandez)