The proceedings, held at an open car park, were observed by about 300 bystanders. The PR assemblymen had arrived in a chartered bus, and as expected none of the Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives were present.

The sitting passed a motion of confidence on Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaludin as the menteri besar and endorsed the suspension of BN's Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, the mentri besar appointed by the Sultan of Perak, and his six exco members.

The sitting also adopted a motion to recommend to the Sultan to dissolve the assembly, something which Nizar said he would act upon by seeking an audience with the Sultan when the documentations on the motions are ready.

The BN, in a move to stop Sivakumar from convening the assembly, got an injunction from the High Court at about 5pm, declaring that the open-air sitting was illegal. The court also ordered that no further sittings of the assembly be held.

The decision to grant the order was made by Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim (JC) after hearing representations in chambers from lawyers appearing for both Sivakumar and Zambry.

Zambry became the mentri besar last month, replacing the Nizar-led PR state government. It came about after three PR representatives of the assembly became independent members, which left both BN and PR wth 28 representatives each in the assembly. The Sultan of Perak subsequently gave the green light to Zambry to form the state government after consultation with the three independent representatives.

Lead counsel for Zambry, Firoz Hussein Ahmad, said he had submitted that the speaker did not have the power to call any assembly, including an emergency sitting such as the one held earlier in the morning at the compound of the state secretariat. He also said the High Court's order had a time limit and penalties would be decided later if and when the speaker holds the next meeting.

Perak assistant state legal adviser Zulkarnain Hassan represented Sivakumar, something which the latter disputes. Sivakumar wanted a team of lawyers led by Tommy Thomas to argue his case but it was disallowed by the court on the grounds that the speaker has to be represented by the state legal adviser of a person appointed by the latter.

This caused an uproar with the opposition describing the order as creating a conflict of interest situation because the state legal adviser was already representing Zambry in an ongoing case initiated by the ousted menteri besar, Nizar, in Kuala Lumpur.

Earlier in the morning, Nizar and his band of PR assemblymen were barred from entering Bangunan Darul Ridzwan where the state assembly was located. The building was placed under tight security by the police, including FRU personnel.
 
After failing to gain entry, they gathered under the tree a few hundred metres away from the state secretariat building to convene the meeting.

In between that, a scuffle broke out when a man claiming to be non-partisan started shouting "derhaka", and some from his group charged into a group of PR supporters. The same man again confronted Nizar and his entourage as they walked towards the state building.

Nizar claimed the "doctrine of neccessity" enabled them to hold the meeting under the tree. The meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes.

On the motion to recommend to the Sultan to dissolve the assembly, Nizar said he would seek an audience with the Sultan as soon as all the documentations were ready.

"There is consensus to ask the Sultan to dissolve the assembly. If there is no resolution to the crisis, the constitutional crisis will go on. We are crying out from the bottom of the people's hearts to ask Tuanku to dissolve the assembly. Until and unless it is dissolved, the political instability will continue," he added.

Scuffles between supporters of BN and PR also broke out in a coffeeshop a few doors from the DAP headquarters, located across the road from the state secretariat building. Assemblymen had to be escorted as they left the DAP headquarters to board the bus.