The trouble has been largely invisible to the 900,000 or so well-heeled tourists who come every year to visit desert islands swathed in aquamarine seas, ringed by white-sand beaches. The vice-president is expected to run a national unity government until the presidential election. The trouble has also shown the longstanding rivalry between Gayoom and Nasheed, who was jailed in all for six years after being arrested 27 times by Gayoom’s government while agitating for democracy. The protests, and the scramble for position ahead of next year’s presidential election, have seen parties adopting hardline Islamist rhetoric and accusing Nasheed of being anti-Islamic. “This follows Gayoom’s party calling for the overthrow of the Maldives’ first democratically elected government and for citizens to launch jihad against the president,” said the official who declined to be identified. He gave no specifics.Īn official close to the president denied the government had used rubber bullets, but confirmed that about three dozen police officers defied orders overnight and attacked a ruling party facility. Gayoom’s opposition Progressive Party of the Maldives accused the military of firing rubber bullets at protesters and a party spokesman, Mohamed Hussain “Mundhu” Shareef, said “loads of people” were injured. “…we will provide full support for the new president.” “We will insist Nasheed is tried for his corruption, for his violation of rule of law,” said Saeed of the DQP. Later in the day, scores of demonstrators stood outside the nearby president’s office chanting “Gayoom! Gayoom!.” On Tuesday, soldiers fired teargas at police and demonstrators who besieged the Maldives National Defence Force headquarters in Republic Square. Overnight, vandals attacked the lobby of the opposition-linked VTV TV station, witnesses said, while mutinying police attacked and burnt the main rallying point of Nasheed’s Maldives Democratic Party before taking over the state broadcaster MNBC and renaming it TV Maldives, as it was called under Gayoom. Thomas Cook Germany, part of the London-listed group, said it was discouraging its 900 customers currently in the Maldives from travelling to Male.Īirlines reported no cancellations of scheduled flights to the Maldives. He said one priority was to create a “durable environment for tourism since it’s our main industry… We can assure all visitors to the Maldives the situation is perfectly normal.” Both the police and the armed forces fully supported my taking office.” “There was a moment when this morning there was a conflict between the military and the police that was happening while Nasheed was still president… The situation is now resolved. “The people have been out on the street demonstrating for weeks now and then finally it came to a point where the crowds (were) too overwhelming and the president tried to negotiate, was too late and the people prevailed on him to resign. The new president told Reuters that Nasheed was in protective police custody for his security and said calling the day’s events a coup was a “misrepresentation.” “The police and Gayoom’s people as well as some elements in the military have forced the president Nasheed to resign. “It’s a coup, I am afraid,” an official at Nasheed’s office said, asking not to be identified. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Protests at the arrest set off a constitutional crisis that had Nasheed defending himself against accusations of acting like a dictator. Nasheed swept to victory in 2008, pledging to bring full democracy to the low-lying islands and speaking out passionately on the dangers of climate change and rising sea levels.īut he drew opposition fire for his arrest of a judge he accused of being in the pocket of his predecessor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years. India helped foil a coup on the islands in 1988 by sending a battalion of soldiers to back the government.Ī spokesman for India’s Foreign Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, said the rebellion was an internal matter of the Maldives “to be resolved by the Maldives.” It was not immediately clear to what influences he was referring but Hassan Saeed, leader of the DQP, one of the parties in the opposition coalition, and an Indian diplomatic source in Colombo said Nasheed had requested help from India and been refused. “I resign because I believe that if the government continues to stay in power, it is very likely that we may face foreign influences.” “I believe that if the government were to remain in power it would require the use of force which would harm many citizens. “I resign because I am not a person who wishes to rule with the use of power,” he said in a televised address. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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