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Maldives anti-gov't rally turns violent

Saturday, 02 May 2015 6:27 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 02 May 2015 6:28 AM ]

In this handout photograph taken and released by The Maldivian Democratic Party early May 2, 2015, Maldives security personnel arrest opposition activists during an anti-government rally in Male. (©AFP)

An anti-government protest rally in the Maldives' capital demanding the release of a former president has turned violent, leading to mass arrests and clashes between police and protesters.

Maldivian officials and activists stated Saturday that those arrested included opposition politicians loyal to former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison last month. Government authorities further said several police officers were wounded during clashes with the protesters.

"The organizers of the protest addressed the protesters and called on all [who had] gathered to topple the government and confront the police," said a government statement, which also confirmed the detention of protesters in the capital, Male, but did not mention any figures.

This is while Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) announced that police forces have arrested more than 170 people since the Friday night protest march, attended by nearly 25,000 people, the largest since the nation’s first democratically elected president was put in jail.

"The increasingly authoritarian regime of President Abdulla Yameen responded... with tear gas, baton charges, stun grenades and mass arrests," according to the MDP statement.

Meanwhile, the mass protest effort took place as the United Nations censured Maldivian officials for the imprisonment of its former president following a "vastly unfair trail."

Laila Ali, the wife of former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, speaks during a press conference at the National Press Club April 30, 2015 in Washington, DC, about attempts to get her husband released from prison. (©AFP)

Moreover, the UN Human Rights Office said their delegation, which visited the Maldivian capital late last month, found the country's first democratically elected leader had been subjected to a "rushed trial" under what it referred to as a highly politicized system.

"The trial of Mr Nasheed was vastly unfair and his conviction was arbitrary and disproportionate," added the UN body in a statement from Geneva. Nasheed was sentenced to jail after being convicted of allegedly ordering the detention of a “corrupt” judge when he was in power in 2012.

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