On 1 August, co-ordinated protests throughout Malaysia commemorated the 50th anniversary of Internal Security Act (ISA), a 1967 law that allows a preventive detention (or detention without trial or criminal charges) under limited, legally defined circumstances. In practice, however, the ISA has been consistently used against government dissidents and human rights defenders, which is why there have been long-standing calls from civil society to abolish the repressive law. The main vigil in Kuala Lumpur was broken up by police in riot gear. The crackdown resulted in 589 people being detained, including 44 children (persons below 18 years old) and 40 women. Several protesters also sustained minor injuries during the arrests.