Four people have been arrested following violent clashes with police near the house of Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim on Sunday night.
At around 12:45am a group of protesters left the ongoing Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) demonstration at the tsunami monument and headed towards Republic Square.
Police had blocked most routes to the republican square blocked with barricades and officers with riot shields by the time demonstrators arrived.
A group of 200 protesters began gathering near the Velaanaage office building and a further group of 150 near Traders Hotel, although there was no indication of violence. More protesters began to gather against police barricades near the coastguard building.
Around 1:15 am protesters reportedly headed towards Chaandhanee Magu and Orchid Magu Junction near the Reefside Shop. When Minivan News arrived police and MNDF had blocked the route to Republican square, but no protesters showed up.
Instead, a group of protesters had gathered near the defence minister’s residence in Maafannu ward near the Nalahiya Hotel.
An eyewitness told Minivan News that police clashed with a group of youths outside the hotel.
“The violence was very bad,” he said. “Only a few police came to the area. The crowd was throwing big stones [at the police]. The squad was split and had to retreat. ”
A police vehicle at the scene was damaged and had its windscreen smashed.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said a police vehicle was damaged and 4-5 officers sustained injuries, none of them serious.
“The situation is controllable. Some people in the crowd became violent,” he said, adding that four arrests were made.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
MDP alleges 117 cases filed against February 8 2012 protesters “politically motivated”- Protesters released on condition they “not be seen in groups”
- Amnesty condemns violent MNDF attack on a group of “peaceful women protesters” in Addu
- Adeeb denies connection with former Raajje TV journalist Asward
- MNDF to provide security for former Police Commissioner Riyaz
- Majlis’ Ibthihaal investigation postponed until end of recess
People are Angry. Hope the People are safe and does not get hurt. I do Not care about the corrupt police who are there to violate people; one's own people aligning with a ROUGE SELF MADE GOVERNMENT. THERE WILL BE NO PEACE FOR THE CORRUPTERS AND CRIMINALS OF THE PRESENT SO CALLED PUPPET AND GOVERNMENT.
ARREST WAHEED!CHUCK HIM OUT OF HE SO CALLED PRESIDENCY, WHICH IS COMICAL IN-DEED! AND ARREST ALL OOTHERS INVOLVED IN THIS. SEND ALL... JUDGES AND ALL TO JAIL.
When 200 MDP protestors confront 6 policemen trying to maintain peace and order, throw bricks and stones, and when the protest leader urges the MDP crowd on Megaphone to "unite and attack and destroy the few policemen before reinforcements arrive", Minivannews label this news as "Protestors clash with police near defence ministers house". What a way to portray news.
Coup or No Coup, no peace without quick elections!
@ Maldivian
Thats how the coup bosses want news portrayed... Check Dhi TV and VTV
Am I reading Raaje TV news here on so called ''independent'' news?
Pathetic article by JJ Robinson.
Nasheed needs to come to his senses.How in the world is an early election possible under democratic principles bfr 2013 if only MDP is going to contest it?? Why doesnt everybody involved understand that what is most important now is an inquiry and a consensus.If MDP in anyway manages to make waheed resign the other parties will take to the street.and now there is guerrilla warfare preached n that can be adopted by any party!what good times for the gangsters!
I have only one question to all the people.
How can anyone say whether it is a coup or not when no two people can tell the same story.
So the only way forward is not an election but an open and transparent inquiry.
If there was a military coup, then the MNDF officers should be prosecuted and anyone else involved prosecuted and Anni should be re-instated without an election.
If there was no coup, then normal elections in 2013.
it simply is a coup . Constitute does not have any point stating government can be change by military . only 2 ways for a change of president , election or by parliament vote . so what should we call this . A unique coup and give a name like bagee hassan saeed said !!!
@ Jimbe
"Constitute does not have any point stating government can be change by military ."
Government was not changed by he military.
Anni resigned.
@jameel
Can you please justify how an inquiry be transparent when the people who will conduct the inquiry itself are the ones who planned the coup??? Doesnt make any sense at all... An inquiry must be conducted with foreign involvement....It's what the CMAG called for in their report too.....This guy Waheed is so arrogant, he did'nt even care for the international community not even the local majority he cares.
To VTV and DhiTV
I wonder why you two make me a hero when I am not one!! Its a great lie you are spreading on my behalf.. I want to be a true hero of my nation.Not a fake or coup hero as in your propaganda.....Those police and MNDF involved in the coup are traitors of this beloved nation...I call for justice
The coup government must stop their barbaric actions against the public. The people who took part in the coup cannot be Ministers .. They are criminals and must be in prison .
The constitution says that only the impeachment or election could change a President. This is not a change of government. This only comes in a Parliamentary democracy and not a Presidency where there is no Prime Minister.
In addition if the President resigns how could that be a coup?
Now the important question is was he forced to resign and if so by whom?
If the people who gathered there forced him to resign, then he does not have a leg to stand on.
On the other hand if the military forced him to resign then it is a coup. How did the military force him to resign is the question that needs to be answered.
In 2008 close to 51% of Maldivians was swayed by the concerted efforts of 1. Islamists, 2. Oligarchs and 3. so called reformist activists, to put their faith in President Nasheed who it would appear promised to rule these islands in accordance with Islam & democracy and so change the 30 years of dictatorial rule by President Gayoom.
To ignore these fundamental and high pressure fault lines in this jigsaw hurriedly put in place in a 3 way marriage of convenience would invite disaster. Thus in order to cement this 3 way marriage of convenience made in haste, President Nasheed, made his first promise to his countrymen – to hold a mid-term election soon after kicking out, the apparently worn out dictatorial President of the republic Gayoom.
At the time President Nasheed’s promise of mid-term elections to let the Maldivian people choose between himself, Mr Gasim and Dr. Hassan Saeed was seen by many independent observers as statesmanship that matched the extra-ordinarily efficient and dignified hand-over of power by his one-time political tormentor President Gayoom.
In those very early days the only news that was newsworthy was that President Gayoom’s DRP with a majority in Parliament was choking the new President Nasheed’s programs. Clearly the solution was to go to the people asking the electorate to choose between himself, Mr Gassim, Dr Hassan Saeed and probably President Gayoom AND to then call for fresh parliamentary Elections – all within the framework of the Constitution.
The Maldivian public probably saw this back-tracking on the promise of mid-term elections (given by President Nasheed with the consent of his advisors or his handlers), as going against them - breaking the most fundamental and solemn promise that he, President Nasheed had given the citizens of Maldives and his coalition of convenience partners.
This was the start of the end of a sometimes tragic, sometimes beautiful heart-warming story of a dictatorship that transformed itself into something that reflected the will of the people of Maldives. The undeniable heroes of this story of love and hate; of greed and selflessness was President Nasheed and President Gayoom. In my opinion, this has never been seen before in any part of the world.
In this extra-ordinary tale is a silent unsung hero - the Muslim men, women and young Muslim men and young Muslim women. That election day, they turned their back on stability, hard to parallel strides of achievements in education, and debatably notable achievements in healthcare, housing and even transport and most importantly their undeniable economic well-being.
Why did the Maldivians turn their back on their president who made Maldives the country of envy in the region with highest per capita income, the country with the strongest currency in the region, the only country to be able to trade freely in the dollar. Also the country that had achieved practically 100 % penetration of secondary education to its populace and a country that had come to terms and weathered the pit-falls of contagious infectious diseases in its populace.
The answer lies in the Islamists huge efforts in the tail end of that election campaign convincing the population that President Gayoom was fundamentally against the ethos of Islam. President Gayoom lost his Presidency not because of his poor economic performance, nor his brutality, nor his nepotism, nor his corruption BUT his perceived disrespect for Islam and the then coalition promoted stories of his plan to introduce Christianity and introduction of statues into a resort in Maldives at a private party.
Whether one likes it or not, there lies the true reason for President Gayoom’s fall from Grace. There lies the story of the missing 3- 5% of votes for him that cost the man his Presidency.
So President Nasheed after denying giving the Maldivian Public that choice between himself and Dr. Said, Mr Gasim n possibly Mr Maumoon in a mid-term election, President Nasheed was forced to find a way to implement his policies with only 25% or less of the vote. If President Nasheed had brought forward the hard evidence of corruption and stealing allegedly perpetrated by President Gayoom, he could very well have been forced out. But President Nasheed broke his promise of mid-term elections. The very first opportunity at consolidating democracy or the will of the people was lost.
Then he promptly made his second telling mistake unfortunately for all Maldives. He got rid of his coalition partners almost overnight. This forced him reportedly to resort to bribery and corruption to win votes in the legislature and high handedness and use of violence & threatening rhetoric by him and his senior colleagues to instil fear in politicians and business Moghuls. All these tactics to impose his vision on the country.
This resulted in the erosion of transparency & accountability and the much harped about rule of law suffered. The absurd gifting of the airport to GMR in a deal that the public was kept completely in the dark, awarding of huge projects to his political cronies by- passing tenders or manipulating them and introduction of a tax system without properly educating the public and addressing their concerns, alienated a surprisingly well informed and interested public. It wasn’t long before every citizen had the impression of deja vue.
His third mistake was to arrest the Criminal court judge. This was in effect signing his own resignation. The vast majority of the intelligentsia distanced themselves from this political hara-kiri. Everyone the high court, the Supreme Court, the judiciary commission and also his attorney general and his vice president all distanced themselves in public from the politically untenable position of interfering in the judiciary. Just like the story of the emperor without any clothing, President went about from night to night completely oblivious to reality and the enormity of his breach of citizen’s trust in him.
This allowed his opponents to pull the rug of democracy from below his feet. The great democracy activist to overcome his untenable 25% trade mark handicap let himself trample the very principles of an independent legislature and the rule of law by resorting to undermine it by thuggary and corruption and finally tried to muzzle the judiciary by extra judiciary abduction of a senior judge with a midnight knock on the door and dragging the judge out in front of his wife and petrified children. Worst of all President Nasheed seemed to ignore the advice of his more competent colleagues and this was the point of talk whenever 2 Maldivians met at tea.
By now the President was living in another world and things got hopelessly worst with the President literally deciding to impose statues on an unwilling public, and in the process inviting unqualified, self-important and politically appointed foreign dignitaries with scant respect for Islam to talk about or give opinions on quaranic laws. This was the last straw that broke everybody’s back with the Islamic Scholars FINALLY coming out openly to address the real or perceived threat of President Nasheed against Islam and his having a hidden agenda to allow Christianity into Maldives in the Trojan horse of human rights and democracy.
In the whole process President Nasheed who perhaps would like to be remembered as the father of democracy ended by trampling underfoot every thread of democratic principle.
President Nasheed had interfered with the legislature, had tried to muzzle the judiciary, the running of Gov. had lost all transparency and accountability and the state media had been made the exclusive tool of the executive. His choice of ministers and officials and the exponential increase of Gov. spending in opaque projects had stunned even his strongest supporters, and increased our national debt several fold. Lawlessness and crime and the drug related problems were as bad as ever if not worst. Politically motivated thuggary was now the rule and not the exception.
To circumvent President Nasheed’s difficulties due to his trade mark, he and his associates taxed the people to offer huge financial offers to politicians on the one hand and introducing rice-bowl politics on an opportunity starved populace – all to entrench themselves in power.
In three years the average man and woman in this country has grown poorer by as much as 30%. Forget the politics and ask yourself the question “am I better off than 3 years ago?” A select band of na-charangii-ing long haired hippy types on nightly trips excepted we are all wondering what next to do tomorrow to find a few dollars or how to pay this tuition teacher or other who won’t give my child tuition if I couldn’t find the green backs.
The ideal scenario to introduce rice bowl politics of the 50’s and 60’s practiced in our neighbouring countries and now LONG ABANDONED, is now in place.
The President Nasheed found himself more and more overwhelmed by the dynamics of having to govern with an ungovernable 25% and clearly President Nasheed and his local and foreign cabal in phoney sheep’s clothing lacked the political skills to make things work and so the descent into more and more authoritarianism and anarchy was fast becoming a certainty. This then was the run up to that fateful day of February.
What a paradox!
Maldives is the only country in history which witnessed a full blown dictator of 30 years become a democrat aided in no small measure by his opponent. Maldives also witnessed a seemingly selfless reformist and sworn democrat turn into an authoritarian, who would stop at nothing.
No wonder the world is seen to distance itself from this hypocrisy and lunacy.
Indeed they planned and planned quite well. Clearly there was an ever bigger planner. Maldives! Oh Maldives! Whither thou? I weep for my children and their children and their children’s children.
The only road open to President Nasheed in the light of the above is very simple. Violence and more violence until Maldivians a peace loving peopled are cowed into submission. His handlers do not care how many Maldivians are maimed or injured so long as their agenda is met. Already Maldives is no longer recognisable as Maldives of yesterday for all the wrong reasons.
It’s fair to postulate that sooner or later a person would be forced to live with the consequences of his/her actions. We the Maldivians are paying for our errors in 2008. For how long?
These "citizens" are a danger to our National security!
@Ahmad
Its the Maldivians who loves the violence to make Maldives a better place to reside for your children and grand children...Who needs a corrupt judiciary in this country???
Judiciary is not corrupt it is aversion of arrogant and alcoholic anni. Whenever anni won a case judiciary is not corrupt if he loses judiciary corrupt. He is a liar and a sick person. He hates Maldivian.
@manik on Mon, 5th Mar 2012 7:44 PM
"If the people who gathered there forced him to resign, then he does not have a leg to stand on."
The "people" gathered there were police men and women! They were joined by some personnel from MNDF. There were some civilians involved, but they were largely remnants of the crowds that have been demonstrating for the previous several weeks.
So, it's quite clear who the "people" were, i.e. the country's police and armed forces. It's also quite clear there were public inducements offered to the police and military to act in the way they did. Politicians have openly admitted to this! Is that enough to convice you that it was a coup?
@ Ahmad
What a long post....
@Ahmed bin Addu bin Suvadheeb on Tue, 6th Mar 2012 12:20 AM
read all the headlines of 7th and 8th..Police joins protesters...the protesters were for weeks asking Nasheed not to give unconstitutional orders and if he were they would topple the government and the protests were increasing everyday and there were international media covering it.on the 7th police joined them and until sunrise were demanding the same thing..'dont give us unlawful and unconstitutional orders and give us reassurance of such.'...All the while nasheed in his drunken stupor kept insisting he wudnt go back on his orders whther constitutional or not,just a few words and acts wud have ended the protests..but it went on being prolonged for days and the police were given orders to disperse the protesters by violent means when all they were demanding was what even the international community demanded..'release the judge' and give him a free trail in court..when afeef started giving outrageous orders because the protests were never ending n the police refused to use more force than was necessary MDP started recruiting ex-convicts and drug addicts to from an army to attack protesters!The police who knew what was bn done could not have digested it for long as after all they were maldivians who had sworn to protect the land with their blood!not be slaves to a power hungry maniac who was ready to inflict injury on the opposition by using his party thugs!(there are vidoes to prove dat!)...so if atall it is a coup any ONE person cannot be blamed,it has to be the all the members of the opposition political parties as well as the police and the military who all refused to obey nasheed.Thats more than half the population you have to put in jail for leading a coup!very convenient and easy huh!try to talk some sense u MDP lot!if u say something u have to knw were it will lead to also!Does any1 have to wonder y they dnt want an inestigation?
MDP, haven't you had enough? All you guys know is doing protests and nothing else. Don't you have any sense of civilised manners and ettiquets. There is a parliament in this country, there is a judiciary system and a supreme court in this country. There is a human rights organizations. If you are not happy with this government, why don't you go to these organizations and bodies present your concerns and proposals. Why come to the streets everyday and bring fear, violence and terrorism on our streets. Is this way your mothers brought you up. Try to do things in a civilized way. And if you don't believe in our institutions just f*** the hell out of this country. Go away to a place where your barbaric behaviour is accepted.
I highly respect the current government of Dr.Waheed , former president has to accept defeat in my opinion. everything was done legally and so far NO international government has condemned the change of power . so i hope the opposition party would soon come to its senses.
George Parkson
(Living in Male' for almost 5 years now )
Bin Addu, you know I have always defended MDP here and elsewhere but what I would not defend is at "all costs".
Coups are legal in some cases and illegal in some case. Sometimes it is moral and ethical too.
I am not saying one way or the other here.
What happened on the 6th and 7th was a disaster for Maldivian democracy. I have to say that this was a disaster that was going to happen, the way Anni was running the country.
Putting a lock on the Supreme Court, getting the military to arrest two prominent politicians, getting the military to arrest a Judge, not releasing him despite various court orders, using the Police and the MNDF to beat up opposition, various nefarious activities of the MDP leadership, boozing and smoking dope etc, the list goes on.
What started as in internal Police matter was extremely badly managed by the Government. This was why it lost control. If you look at the time line and how the whole thing unfolded, one would be amazed at the utter incompetence of the government. One could never ever imagine that such people could even run a company let alone a Government. It is incompetence and utter stupidity of the highest order.
Forget about the talks of bribes etc. You and I do not know if this is a fact or not. All we hear is rumours and unless proven in a court of law it would remain allegations.
What would have happened if the Government ordered the Commissioner of Police to come out and say that no illegal orders would be given to the Police and that there would be no punishment for disobeying the orders that night?
I would say the whole thing would have been finished then and there. Even if the government had to replace the Commissioner it would still have been worthwhile.
No they could not do this and in fact the Deputy Commissioner specifically told the Police that he could not give that Guarantee. Why not?
The MNDF was begging to let them sort it out peacefully yet the political masters would not let them do it.
This was managed extremely badly and that is why this whole thing happened.
This is not new. This has happened in the past and the most recent one was in Honduras.
The one in Honduras was a military coup. The President Zelaya was ousted by the military very similar to the one like here in Maldives. He broke the laws and the constitution. The military objected to this breaking of the law and the constitution and removed him. It was accepted by all as he himself was breaking the constitution.
The military's prime objective is to defend the country and constitution. The legal way to remove a President is through impeachment and an election. However, if he continues to break the law and constitution, it is the duty of the military to remove him as per in defending the constitution.
This is given that the military removed him. We do not know that at all. We do not know what happened and that is why we need an open and transparent inquiry. Just because some people including Police and MNDF called him to resign does not mean it is a military coup at all.
So we need to find out what happened first and then act on that finding.
Now what we are doing is destroying our own county for the sake of personal selfishness. What MDP should do is ask for an immediate and transparent inquiry and then based on that act. If it is proven to be a military coup then depending on how it came about, ask for Anni to be re-instated. If it goes the other way, swallow and get ready for the election in 2013 and win it.
please do not destroy our country for the sake of power.
@parkson
How much did they pay you???
MDP has become a criminal gang.Even with an election , MDP with current leading elements is not going to win! Presently what they want is to create fear, uncertainty among the public.In previous occasions too MDP tried with its evil tactics in vain.The time for militant MDP is up. It's time for moderate elements in MDP to raise against Kenereege thug, and get rid of him before it's too late!
mi meehun gandu maithiri kuran vejje kome gotheh hadhaafa ves!! gaumu ge halaaku MDP akyy!!
Hindhu kolhu aisfa thibey meehunaka verikameh nukureveyne!
Dhen madun thibey 2013 annan dhe!
@Ahmed
Maldivians did not turn their back on their president.
President Nasheed resigned to avoid soldiers killing each other. he resigned when police mutineed and army officers withdrew their support for President Nasheed.
Do you really believe that Nasheed would have resigned because of a few hundred people brought in by PPM MPs??
This was a coup.
Get your facts straight.
As for the rest of your long ramble. Clearly you were quite happy with the way things were.... so rejoice and enjoy the short time you have with your people back in power. It wont be for long.
@simple n honest – 10.39 pm.
Re –“ Its the Maldivians who loves the violence to make Maldives a better place to reside for your children and grand children…Who needs a corrupt judiciary in this country???”
I’m sorry the vast majority of Maldivians are decent peace loving folk who would make all the sacrifices that you can think of for their religion and to educate their children. Most Maldivians abhor violence.
One does not have to kill and maim and call for anarchy and arson to build a better future for our children. As pointed out by another person in this discussion there are provisions in our constitution to address these issues you raise. Admittedly these are institutions in their infancy and need time and experience to work. There is a high court and a supreme court a judiciary services commission a human rights commission, an anti-corruptions commission - layer upon layer of mechanisms to address your grievances.
Did President Nasheed bother to even try to exhaust these mechanisms addressed in the constitution?
This being so how can we defend President Nasheed’s decision to take the law into his own hands? The Supreme Court judges are appointed by President Nasheed himself. By just one stroke of lunacy - President Nasheed listening to a cabal of opportunists –his handlers tried to turn a nascent democracy that he helped craft into the vilest demonstration of authoritarian rule.
He stabbed in the back all of us who went out of our way fighting tooth and nail to bring the rule of law into this land.
For some reason President Nasheed lost the plot. One action after another action, one miserable policy decision after another policy decision the President used abusive language, threatened with his fingers wagging in true Hitlerian fashion.. the very electorate that gave him his chair.
The descent into authoritarianism and corruption and party cronyism attained such proportions that everybody in Maldives, and obviously the foreign Govts concluded that it couldn’t last very long. His open attacks on the one thing dearer to most Maldivians than their own lives – Islam was the point where President Nasheed lost all legitimacy in the eyes of a great number of Maldivians, irrespective of party colours.
I do not think any Maldivian glued to their TV sets that night, nor the thousands of ordinary Maldivians from all parties – the MDP included gathered that early morning quite understood how and what moved the throngs and throngs of ordinary people turned out in that square to kick President Nasheed over. It is the true professionalism of those boys in uniform that morning by Allah’s Grace that President Nasheed escaped the electrifying fury of the multitude. I know! I was there! I’m describing what I saw and what I felt that morning.
A Miracle had taken place. NOBODY can really explain the cataclysmic events that unfolded in staccato haste. NOBODY dreamed it possible.
One who lives by the sword dies by the sword. President Nasheed hounded out a tired, old and by far - more a benevolent dictator than a cruel one. President Nasheed achieved this by raunchy threats, well directed and cleverly controlled violence and turning the old dictator into a Dajjal in Maldivian’s eyes, someone who had already sold the country to Christians and Buddhists. He played the “Christians are coming” card.
Come 3 years President Nasheed suffered the ignominy of resigning in front of thousands of Maldivians, with his cabinet flanking him and in his words to avoid the spilling of Maldivian blood. Noble words! words of humility and regret, an apt demonstration of statesmanship and sheer class.
Sadly President Nasheed within 24 hours; once within the orbit of his handlers recanted on his fine words demonstrated that after all he had been talking with a forked tongue. What is going on? What about the fine words of the President of MDP Dr Didi that day on interview? What is going on? Is it not legitimate to ask WHO IS PULLING WHICH STRING?
Young President Nasheed not tired and not worn out but hale and hearty was kicked out by the people of the Maldives. Kicked out by the very weapons that he so cleverly crafted – Violence! Arson! Civil disobedience! Threats of mutiny! And running on to the streets bringing mayhem, destruction, and spilt blood on the streets of Male’.
Clearly President Nasheed and his cabal of locals & some Foreigners who enjoyed his freebies plan to again use these same tactics introduced into this country by him. AGAIN. Are the Maldivians going to let President Nasheed back in? WILL YOU LET HIM IN? Only Allah knows! One way or other there is a sense that EVIL is in the air!
P.S
This is a plea going out to ALL (100%) Maldivians! Specially to President Nasheed himself. Say enough is enough! Say NO VIOLENCE IN MALDIVES! NO BLOOD SHED HERE! NO MORE SPILLING OF BLOOD! – NOT IN OUR NAME! WE WANT PEACE!
We,You, US ALL! cannot let Maldives burn! For the sake of our children and their children & their children’s children we can ill afford to let Maldives burn. This is a plea to “STOP MALDIVES BURNING”.
@Ibbe
RE.. Do you really believe that Nasheed would have resigned because of a few hundred people brought in by PPM MPs??
Of course not! Nobody least of all President N would have resigned because of a few hundred people. However that morning it was not just hundreds upon hundreds but it seemed to me like thousands upon thousands of quite disciplined glum and surly looking people as far as my eye could see.
I saw the President peep from above the wall of the HQ. From that height the crowds would have stretched on and on. Before long he came up to the seated policemen guarded by the security boys. He appeared to try to mesmerise the policemen using his fingers and his charisma ( Just like he successfully did at the MDP meeting 24 hrs later silencing everyone there).
He had to stop! His charm was not working. He was at that moment very alone. Helpless before his whole police force who refused to even let him speak. From where I stood I could not hear. Later I learnt the policemen were demanding that their commander in chief resign.
When the MNDF refused orders to move against the policemen what other option but his resignation was left? What President Nasheed Saw from the top of the HQ wall would have been overwhelming. Crowds stretching in every direction as far as the eyes could see.
President Mohamed Amin’s fate at that moment must surely have crossed his mind too. He was on the phone so would have known his lieutenants were trying to leave the country and being detained too. Now we know that his requests for military intervention by neighbouring countries were turned down.
That day he had no police! He had no MNDF! He had no public to support him. This person or that was scurrying to take a flight out when he was detained. The other was telling the Media how things went wrong because President N's style was not to discuss or listen to anybody.
Dear Ibbe ( I like 1%) where were you that day?
I don’t believe there was a coup! If there was a coup, a curfew would have been imposed and there obviously would have been a witch-hunt the next day. Instead President Nasheed obviously was planning his revenge from the very moment he got home. Pr. N was a very free and scheming young man next day,
🙂
Oh yes! Sorry folks I’m learning English from my son. That explains my verbosity and my rambles. With practice I hope to spare you the torture – of me calling a cat a cat or is it calling a dog, dog? ))
P.S.
As for being happy with things as it were ….. I was even happier when the dollar was at 7! Seriously yes. I and my family had enough to eat, even could afford a Maid. My hard working father sent me to get an education. Health care was dicey but within reach. Even got married, had a child. Yes I was happy that I lived happily.
P.P.S.
I was mad enough to be convinced that all that was not worth keeping my mouth shut. So I voted your hero into power, with the promise of being able to talk.
Now I cannot afford ½ the things I enjoyed. I cannot even travel the way I used to. No dollars. ½ the food is on my table. I cant send my child out for studies. I can talk now! sadly there is nobody to listen to. Of course not our hero. Yes I’m dash unhappy.
P.P.P,S
I take Islam seriously. Now, I perceive my religion is under threat. So? I’m dash dash unhappy. Well now I don’t really care who comes really. I wish I had what I had and no speech. I’m taking my family to my island. No more dreams.Old and Tired. Salams to you
@Ahmad. If you write a book about the love story of Maldives i would buy it.
You havr hit the nail on the head. Thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments.