THE trial of five individuals charged with attempting to hold a public procession without a permit has been adjourned till Monday.

Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan, 46; executive committee member Chee Siok Chin, 42; party chairman Gandhi Ambalam, 65; and supporters Teoh Tian Jin, 23, and Yap Keng Ho, wanted more time to prepare their defence.

The five, who are representing themselves, told District Judge Toh Yung Cheong on Thursday that this was because the prosecution amended the charge against them just a week before the trial began.

The amendment from 'holding a public procession' to 'attempting to hold a public procession' changed the case against them, they said.

As such, they needed to review their defence and asked that the case be adjourned till Wednesday next week.

But District Judge Toh rejected their application and gave them up to Monday to present their defence.

The charge stemmed from a Sept 16, 2006, incident when the group demonstrated and gave speeches at Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park before attempting to march to Parliament.

This was at a time when the International Monetary Fund meetings were being held here.

Police told the group that as it had not applied for a permit for the march, it was committing an offence.

But the group persisted and was stopped by police in front of Hong Lim Park before it could proceed.

The Chees, Yap and Teoh have pleaded not guilty to the charge, while Gandhi has not entered a plea.

If found guilty, they could each be fined up to $1,000 each.

The Chees and Gandhi also face a separate charge of participating in an illegal assembly at the entrance of Raffles City on Sept 10 that year.

This was to give out flyers publicising the Sept 16 protest march.

A sixth member of the group, Jeffrey George, 44, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the charge of attempting to hold a public procession and was fined $600. He was also fined $700 on the illegal assembly charge.