A general view of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Putra Heights, November 26, 2018. — Picture Firdaus Latif

PETALING JAYA, Nov 26 — Authorities have deployed several teams of Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) to the Sri Maha Mariamman Devasthanam temple in USJ 25 as a safety precaution after the number of people gathered there grew and caused a major traffic congestion.

As of 11pm, the crowd at the temple peaked at almost 1,000 people with the bulk of those present spilling onto the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) highway adjacent to the temple, effectively blocking other motorists from manoeuvring through.

A total of seven FRU trucks transporting armoured personnel arrived at the scene shortly before 11pm to control the group.

The crowd had earlier obstructed a police truck that was passing through and refused to make way for the vehicle even after it blared its sirens.

The truck managed to ease its way out of the crowd slowly and left the scene, leaving several hundreds of vehicles stranded behind.

Several other road users were also caught in the massive congestion outside the temple as onlookers recorded videos and clapped their hands.

Earlier Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun confirmed the fight at the temple this morning was not a racial riot.

He said the issue was connected to the ongoing dispute over the temple’s transfer to another location.

This comes after the developer One City Development Sdn Bhd issued a statement earlier this morning, denying they had anything to do with the incident and threatening to take legal action against those who continue to make “unsubstantiated statements” against it.