Police prepare for major demonstrations after sixth night of protests

Protesters in the capital city of Male’ gathered in the Artificial Beach area last night for a sixth night of protests, ahead of a major demonstration planned for today after Friday prayers.

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) maintains the protests are ‘youth led’ demonstrations against rising commodity prices, brought on by the government’s decision to implement a managed float of the rufiya.

Haveeru reported that despite warning demonstrators to remain in the open artifical beach area, police treatment of demonstrators was relaxed compared to previous evenings.

Groups of protesters split from the main group and attempted to gather in the intersection used as the focus of the protesters this week, but were dispersed by police.

Meanwhile, a senior government source claimed the Sri Lankan High Commission had called every hospital in Colombo in an attempt to locate local football star Assad ‘Adubarey’ Ali, who was flown to Sri Lanka for medical treatment after suffering injuries during the fifth night of protests in Male’.”
“He wasn’t admitted to any hospital in Colombo. He was however spotted in a Colombo nightclub,” the source alleged.
Haveeru reported yesterday that Assad had suffered “soft tissue injury” from force applied by a riot shield.

Dismissed deputy DRP leader Umar Naseer and several DRP MPs, including Ali Arif and Ahmed Mahloof, were briefly detained by police, and protests dissipated around 1:30am.

This morning riot police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) personnel could be seen gathering in Republican Square ahead of mass protests the opposition has scheduled for this afternoon.
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