Malaysian police break up price hike protest

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police broke up an opposition protest against rising prices on Saturday, arresting more than four dozen people in the latest in a series of rallies that have intensified amid speculation of an early election.

Police had expected at least 5,000 demonstrators to gather near the Petronas twin towers in the capital for the rally, organised by Coalition Against Inflation, but only several hundred turned up. Among those detained were organisers of the rally.

"I have also being arrested. There are 54 of us here waiting for next police action," Hatta Ramli, who is also treasurer of Islamic opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), told Reuters by telephone from the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.

The spate of protests in this normally peaceful country comes at a delicate time for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government, which has seen its popularity fall ahead of snap polls expected in the coming weeks.

The latest protest, the fifth in three months, also comes when Abdullah's approval rating has hit a personal low, with voters unhappy over rising prices, racial tensions and crime, according to a poll by market research firm Merdeka Center.

The poll gave Abdullah an approval rating of 61 percent in December, the lowest since he took office in late 2004 and down by 10 percentage points from November. His rating has slipped from a high of 91 percent when he took power.

Malaysia's inflation in December hit a 10-month high of 2.4 percent, driven by higher food and transport costs.