Self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed on Sunday slammed the security forces over the continuous block of opposition protests insisting that no state institution can deny the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
Opposition on Saturday announced a mass protest in the capital Male, urging the people from the across the archipelago to join.
Opposition spokesperson and South-Galolhu MP Ahmed Mahloof told reporters that the protest would call on the government to respect the separation of powers and the ruling party to allow the no-confidence motion against the parliament speaker to go for a vote.
Police spokesperson Ahmed Shifan however denied the claims insisting that no police officer would take part in a protest.
Shifan also warned that the police would block any unlawful protests that violate the right to peaceful assembly.
Nasheed responded to the police warning on Sunday said the right to peaceful assembly was a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution.
"Right to assembly is not based on the permission of a state institution. It is a right enshrined in the constitution. Everyone needs to come out [in protest]," Nasheed said on Twitter.
Nasheed was jailed on terror charges after he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison over the arbitrary detention of a sitting judge while he was president.
He now lives in self imposed exile in the UK after he was allowed to leave to Britain on medical leave in an internationally brokered deal in January last year.
Maldives has been ravaged by fresh political strife after Nasheed managed to rally all opposition leaders including arch nemesis, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to pen a historic treaty to work against the government.
In recent weeks, the opposition has scored major victories after wresting parliament majority from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) with help of government lawmakers loyal to the deposed PPM leader Gayoom and his lawmaker son Faris Maumoon.
The elder Gayoom had a major falling-out with half brother president Yameen which has seen the ruling party split into two factions. The former strongman who ruled the country for three decades before being defeated by Nasheed in the first democratic elections in 2008.