Shidhatha Shareef has said that the government is trying to intimidate the people by celebrating the mass crackdown on the people with fireworks after tyrannizing them during the Friday’s protest,
She said that the people are not in need of a despotic government which wants to enslave them. She said that the people are in need of a compassionate government which will protect their rights.
Shidhatha stressed that the SO Police indiscriminately started beating and using pepper spray against the protestors as they tried to head towards the Islamic Center for Maqhrib prayer. She said that this is something only seen in places like occupied Palestine.
“While the government claims that they are holding these fireworks for the victory they gained, it should be asked what is that victory they gained? Is it that a record number of people gathered against their brutality? Is it that because they used police brutality against the people. The thousands of people who participated in the protest are still with the same resolve. They are in the same spirit to strive to end government tyranny,” she said.
The protest brought together, under the banner “Maldivians Against Brutality”, members of the Maldivian Democratic Party, the Jumhooree Party and the Adhaalath Party, as well as members of the public and civil society.
Police arrested 195 people, including minors, and the leaders of all the main opposition parties.
MDP Chairperson Ali Waheed, Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla, and Jumhooree Party Deputy Leader Ameen Ibrahim were all arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning, following a court order alleging them of attempting to overthrow the government.
The crackdown by the Yameen regime constitutes one of the biggest mass arrests in the Maldives’ history.
An estimated 25,000 people poured onto the streets of Male’ on Friday afternoon, demanding an end to government tyranny and the release of political prisoners
The three political parties put aside their differences and joined forces earlier this year, in response to a wave of anti-democratic actions by the Yameen regime, including the firing of the country’s Chief Justice, harassment of the Elections Commission, and jailing of opposition politicians.