Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was found guilty on July 28 of all seven charges in the 1MDB trial.
Najib supporters gathered outside court
Prior to the verdict, about a thousand of Najib's supporters had gathered outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
They were mostly dressed in red and blue, the colours of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Barisan Nasional (BN).
Najib was the former president of UMNO, the leading party in Malaysia's BN coalition.
According to New Straits Times (NST), about 20 buses of supporters had made their way to the court.
Some of them arrived as early as 6:30am.
Videos and pictures of the supporters were posted on social media.
Here was the crowd situation at around 9am on July 28, before Najib arrived.
At around 10am, Najib arrived.
Lack of social distancing
A number of netizens voiced their concerns over the lack of social distancing within the crowd.
Translation:
"Politics is politics. But I hope @IsmailSabri60 and @DGHisham can advise those who are not following the social distancing SOPs at KL court this morning."
Translation:
"Is Covid-19 taking a vacation today?"
Translation:
"I hope the government will take strict actions against what is happening. I pity the frontliners who are working hard to make sure the country remains safe and healthy. Teachers have also worked hard to educate their students on social distancing and the necessary SOPs."
Given police warnings
A police Light Strike Force (LSF) unit and K9 unit were deployed to guard the court's entrance, reported NST.
The police had also given multiple warnings to the supporters to maintain social distancing.
According to a video by The Star, the police drove around and used loud hailers to warn the supporters to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the recovery movement control order (MCO).
Malaysia's health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah has also responded to the crowd situation.
He said in his tweet:
"The Ministry of Health has made it clear every day by reminding Malaysians to adhere to the SOP. They must maintain at least a one-metre distance from one another, wear a face mask, and wash their hands regularly. It is saddening to see this situation going out of control."
Top images from @asrulmm/Twitter.