A well-known local football star has been sent to Sri Lanka for medical treatment after suffering serious injuries during a fifth night of protests in the Maldivian capital.
Media reported that Ahmed Assad ‘Adubarey’ was injured when he was caught and crushed between police riot shields.
Police had restricted protesters to the open area around the tsunami monument and the artificial beach area in the capital Male’ after complaints from business owners and residents around the Majeedhee Magu and Chandanee Magu intersection, a two-lane road the demonstrators have dubbed the Maldives’ “Tahrir Square.”
Protesters split up to try and reach the area, with 10 people including Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Mahlouf arrested by police and released later in the evening.
Those that reached the intersection were immediately dispersed by police, with several injuries reported.
It is thought that 14 demonstrators arrested during the week’s protests currently remain in custody after the Criminal Court issued warrants extending their detention.
A pickup truck with loudspeakers used by the opposition was damaged and looted by a group of seven young men near the Heniveru police station, in front of 600 demonstrators.
‘’We are residents of this area and you have caused much disturbance to us,” one of the men said, facing down the protesters. “You cannot move even a step forward. If you have the guts, take one step forward and you will see what happens,’’ he said, as 600 people stood silent.
Police are trying to locate the driver of the pickup.
‘’We had a report that a pick-up used by the protesters was destroyed by a group of people and we are now investigating the case,’’ said Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam.”So far no one has been arrested in connection to the incident.’’
The opposition has maintained that the protests are ‘youth-led’ over concerns at the rising cost of living, despite the active leadership of MPs loyal to the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s faction of the opposition.
Certain activists said to belong to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) are also said to have been involved in the protests, along with other political parties.
Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has told a press conference in Colombo that the budget deficit was the Maldives’ most pressing issue, and the at the opposition was obliged to assist in resolving the matter.
“The government has laid out a series of steps with the advice of the International Monetary Fund,” Reuters reported Blake as saying. “If the opposition opposes those steps, then it’s incumbent on them to divulge what their own plan would be and then to engage in good-faith negotiations with the government.”
President Nasheed’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, said in a statement that the country “should unite for the common good.”
“If the opposition Z-DRP faction does not like the government’s economic policies, we call on it to set out an alternative, credible economic plan to reduce the budget deficit.”
Tourism insiders also alleged yesterday that growing international coverage of the protests has negatively impacted tourist interest from certain travel markets at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
“Travel operators in Taiwan have said they are postponing and cancelling group bookings because of negative perceptions [of safety] in the Maldives,” a tourism source attending the expo told Minivan News yesterday.
“We just had another two confirmed bookings cancelled today because of reports of riots and instability. We worked hard to get these bookings and the potential domino effect is really worrying – people panic.”
In addition to these claims, the National Council of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) yesterday announced that it had approved a resolution to conduct “direct action to defend the government, the constitution of the Republic of the Maldives, the President of the Maldives and senior government officials” against an opposition-led protest planned for Friday afternoon.
The group claimed at the time that it was responding to threats by opposition figures to “torture and kill” the president and other ministers at Republic Square.
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These 7 men or so, were armed with knives and swords. You missed that part.
this football star didnt suffer serious injuries as reported. the doctor who treated him told haveeru news that it was a soft tissue injury to the chest.
no ribs were broken on his chest. so i dont know why he complained of 'breathing difficulty' after the incident as reported by sun fm's running blog last night.
Also if he had some serious injury why did he walk to the airplane, instead of being carried on a stretcher? No nurse or doctor accompanied him from maldives to lanka. from the look of it i dont think it is anything serious. This is just a circus for the local and international media. Aljazeera was covering the protest and these DRP people should give them something news worthy right? I heard other international journalists are coming. we will be seeing more of these kind of dramas.
Is this the behaviour of a member of National team. We are losing the trust and love towards the national team. This same thing happened when Hanim took the National team for Maumoons campaign. FAM sucks
i dont like these riots and am very clear that i need a peaceful place to study for my exams starting next week. i dont care whether drp or mdp pls do not violate my freedom when you are exercising your freedom
That bastar@###$$%^%$#!! Zuhair should be skinned with a blunt knife. Misleading the foreign media, the bas#$$$@@!
i must say the quality of the articles posted by minivan news is absolutely rubbish and this does not go to a standard... always the news is posted without looking on two side... favoured to one side becz they get more under the table... wht nuts do u guys think of idiots...people around him when this happened to him spoke , that it was the crowd who started violently pushing each other and assad slipped on his injured leg onto the ground and the crowd stepped on him without knowing....this is as to what i heard....
When ever Anni/MDP is criticized Anni thinks its GAYoom/DRP.
He doesn't know that there are many who doesn't belong to any party. Its also a fact that there are many from MDP who are not happy with whats going on within MDP.
Anni still can't believe he's the president. Anni you are the president, believe it and behave and talk like one. And treat your people with respect.
Just acknowledge that there's a crisis and address the people.
MDP member
Anni, please resign. We do not want another dictator.
Why can't we just leave these protesters to it? If they didn't have the riot police to battle against, there would be nothing to report and no juicy photos for Al Jazeera. If they want to sleep all night on the road, why not let them?
It's funny how certain TV channels keep calling this a "youth protest", as if the youth are bothered at all! So long as their Lavazza and Red Bull is still available so they can get pumped up on caffeine each night then they are happy.
We can see the faces of these 'rent boys' and 'rent thugs' clearly on TV and we know who these people are and that their motives are political.
I absolutely agree with Ismail. Anni thinks he is the president of the republic of MDP. Wake up Anni, There are many member of MDP including myself who are not happy with the way you are handling the matters. Is Reeko the president of this country or Mr. Nashid? I'm confused.
Issey i feel sorry for you man
'soft tissue damage' - otherwise known as a bruise! the big wimp.
he was very fake last night in the hospital. absolutely NOTHING happened to him . and his family all were yelling so filthy words at the hospital staff too. stupid! and all ordianary maldivians with narrow minds only beleived him and his fake act and were standing near the idiots bed!
Anni dishing out to our youth the same treatment he received at the hands of Gayoom. Well done Anni for turning as brutal as his predecessor..
hello everyone.I am a chinese,and I'll come to your country for vaction the day after tommorrow.But I notice the protest happen in Male.So I'm worring about the safety of itinerary.Please tell me the situation is very bad now or the protest will finish soon?
Thank you.
haha Rinzy you wouldn't survive the dishing out MDP supporters got back then. Be thankful. Like your partey Umar Naseer. When he was cuffed with cable ties, hes said- "Thank you very much". That was because he knew his back would not be broken 🙂
Nasheed, better to reinstate Rufiyaa value to it was before, and slowly make a policy to eliminate all unwanted civil service jobs by implementing strict rules on employees on the basis of merits and efficiency. This entire lousy people will not be able to perform under strict disciplinary procedure.
F A M sucks!!!!
The value of the Rufiyaa CANNOT return to the previous exchange rate against the dollar.
Please people. Understand that simple fact. What's done is done. Technically, the government is at fault for a host of unpolitical reasons. For e.g.:-
- Delaying action to repair the economy until it shattered.
- Refusing to consult with industries and technocrats.
- Implementing haphazard projects backed by no technical study or a credible project plan.
Apart from these failings, the current government is highly unpopular and cannot stay in power for long, if it wishes to stay within the parameters of the current Constitution. An unpopular administration can only survive as a dictatorship. Its as simple as that.
now it is confirmed. That football "star" got no serious injury.
just see the blog of sun fm http://sun.mv/live at 21:21 they have written that Lanka doctors tell that he had a soft tissue injury. The very same thing told by IGMH doctors.
A mere soft tissue injury can never be classified as a serious injury. Despite this, see what the media is telling and see how much DRP is lying about this incident. I wish some one sue them.
NOT in my name please. Z-DRP, do your dirty laundry in your name, Please not in my name or in the name of our up coming youth of Maldives either, please.
Maldivian Youth looks very old, why is that?
All Businessmen who are behind this demonstration are getting drunk in Sri Lankan Hotels, Specially in Hotel Continental
shit people dont know his name.. shame on you... better to clarify the right information and publish it... his name is Ashad Ali... JJ fuck off...
@ Samuel: You are safe as long as you stay out of Male'. Stay in your resort adn enjoy the beach there. just don't come to the capital.
The information provided by the journalists are totally wrong. First of all, Mahloof and Adubarey was arrested before they started marching towards the intersection. Adubarey was sitting peacefully infront of the police barricade when six riot police officers came and attacked him. Mahloof was hit by a riot policeman and he was asking the reasons when he was taken into custody. And it was not 10 ppl who went to the intersection. There would be around 50 ppl there. I was there at the scene. Even though your so called independent newspaper, pls spread the news accurately
to Ziyan:thank you for your reply!that's a good message for us!Our family are very worried about the safety!thank you again!
If 65% of working population benefit from the increased exchange rate, why not increase it to Rf105. Why is Anni saying he hope the price will come down to Rf10. The entire world has never had liar like him as a president of a country.
Totaly one sided story . Shame you guys call yourself journalists !!! If you all want to cover a story do it right, otherwise don't bother or start writing your own imaginary stories !