Road blocks were set up and water cannons and helicopters were mobilised around the police station in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where Mr Anwar was taken after being arrested today.
A statement posted on a website run by his office said: “Anwar Ibrahim … calls upon his supporters and the people of Malaysia to remain calm and to reject any attempts at provocation, which will give a pretext for an emergency situation to be declared.”
A warrant for the arrest of Mr Anwar the leader of the People’s Justice Party (PKR), was issued yesterday, and he was making his way to the police station voluntarily when a convoy of vehicles seized him in front of his house.
“As he entered the neighbourhood of his home, a contingent of ten police cars, half unmarked and half-patrol, forced the two cars in Anwar Ibrahim’s entourage to stop,” the New Straits Times newspaper reported on its website.
“There was a contingent of 20 balaclava-clad masked commandos who accosted him, reminiscent of the forces sent to arrest [him] at his home in September 1998.”