KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- More than 10,000 yellow-shirt protesters rallied Saturday in Kuala Lumpur seeking Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's resignation over accusations of taking at least $700 million from a government investment fund.
Protesters marched in downtown Kuala Lumpur and later moved to the Petronas Twin Towers after failing to enter Independence Square, the city's main protest venue, which was locked down by police with water-cannon trucks on standby. Those at the rally were undeterred by a police ban and the arrest of 20 people, mostly activists.
Some chanted "Save Democracy" and "Bersih, Bersih" -- the name of the electoral reform group that organized the rally. The name means "clean" in the Malay language.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has been spearheading calls for Najib's resignation, joined the rally. The 91-year-old once chose Najib as prime minister but now criticizes his former protege's government as corrupt.
"Everybody feels concerned about the kind of government we have now," said Mahathir, wearing a yellow Bersih shirt. "We no longer live under democracy, but a kleptocracy -- a nation ruled by thieves."
The rally ended peacefully after a downpour of rain.
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 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund that he founded. The fund is at the center of investigations in the U.S. and several other countries.
The prime minister, who has denied any wrongdoing, has called Bersih "deceitful" and said the group has become a tool for opposition parties to unseat a democratically elected government.
"We want to see Malaysia more developed and not robbed of billions of ringgit," singer Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin, an opposition supporter, said at the rally. The ringgit, the Malaysian currency, is worth slightly less than a U.S. quarter.
The protest was the fifth organized by Bersih, which also held similar demonstrations Saturday in two Malaysian cities on the island of Borneo.
Police estimated the Bersih crowd at 15,500. The turnout was less than the 50,000 who attended the last Bersih rally, in August 2015, which also demanded that Najib quit. Online news portal Malaysiakini put the crowd Saturday at more than 40,000.
Najib criticized the Bersih coalition for trying to bring down his government, which he says was fairly and democratically elected. While Malaysia holds elections, its leaders have long been chosen first by the governing United Malays National Organization, which has been in power since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957.
Sri Azalina Othman Said, a government minister, issued a statement calling the protest leaders "a motley crew of former enemies driven by self-interest, not the greater good of society."
Police on Friday raided the Bersih office and detained the group's chairman, Maria Chin, under Malaysia's strict Security Offenses Act. Police said she was under investigation for "activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy."
Another 19 people, mostly politicians and activists, were also detained on Friday and Saturday to prevent rioting, police said.
Those detained included ruling party politician Jamal Mohamad Yunos, whose supporters, numbering about 2,500, trooped to downtown to counter the Bersih rally. Police banned the rallies by Bersih's yellow-shirt supporters and Jamal's red-shirt group.
Lawyer Eric Paulsen tweeted that Chin was formally detained Saturday under a security law meant to be used against terrorists and can be held for a further 28 days. The other activists were remanded for several days in police custody.
Amnesty International slammed the crackdown and called for the immediate release of the Bersih activists, describing them as prisoners of conscience. "These arrests are the latest in a series of crude and heavy-handed attempts to intimidate Malaysian civil society activists and other human rights defenders," Amnesty said in a statement.
"Security legislation should not be used against peaceful demonstrators," added Laurent Meillan, acting regional representative of the United Nations' human rights office in Southeast Asia. "We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Maria Chin ... and other activists."
The investigations into the state fund are centered on allegations of a global embezzlement and money-laundering scheme. Najib started the fund shortly after taking office in 2009 to promote economic-development projects, but the fund accumulated billions in debt over the years.
The U.S. Justice Department said at least $3.5 billion had been stolen from the fund by people close to Najib, and it initiated action in July to seize $1.3 billion it said was taken from the fund to buy assets in the U.S.
The U.S. government complaints also said more than $700 million had landed in the accounts of "Malaysian Official 1." They did not name the official, but they appear to be referring to Najib.
Support for Najib's National Front has eroded in the last two general elections. It won in 2013, but lost the popular vote for the first time to an opposition alliance.
Information for this article was contributed by Eileen Ng of The Associated Press; and by Richard C. Paddock of The New York Times.
A Section on 11/20/2016