Male: The opposition Progressive Congress Coalition launched a demonstration under the banner of “India Out”, which calls for the removal of all Indian military personnel and assets from the Maldives.
Many people participated in the opposition demonstration today. The Maldives Police Service barricaded the area around the PPM’s head offices and blocked the demonstrators from proceeding.
The police had also blocked the demonstrators’ attempts to get through the barricades, leading to injuries.
According to the opposition coalition spokesperson, Heena Waleed, 28 demonstrators had been taken into police custody. She stated that the police had been “unusually forceful” in detaining demonstrators today.
She also mentioned that most of the demonstrators who had been detained were women. The former Majlis representative for Ihavandhoo, Mohamed Abdullah had also been detained.
Several people had been arrested during the “India Out” demonstrations in the past few days. The opposition coalition had criticised male police officers who had manhandled female demonstrators during their attempts to arrest them.
A statement that had been released by the opposition had accused the Maldives Police Service of using excessive force against demonstrators with no consideration of their age or health.
The opposition had claimed that the arrests were being made by the direct orders of the government’s high officials.
The “India Out” had intensified after opposition leader former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom’s acquittal by the Supreme Court. The Maldives Journal
