48 police officers injured in MDP

The Maldives Police Services has said that 48 police officers were injured in 22 protests organized and conducted by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) under the leadership of former President Mohamed Nasheed and styled as “Direct Action”.

This figure is in sharp contrast with just one police officer injured during the protests by 23rd December Alliance against Nasheed’s Government which led to the resignation of Nasheed on 7th February this year.

All injured police officers belong to the Special Operations (SO) Unit.

The statistics were published today by the SO Unit in a press briefing.

According to the statistics, 309 people were arrested during the protests conducted by 23rd December Alliance for 22 nights. In contrast, only 208 people were arrested during the 22 days of MDP’s recent Direct Action protests.

SO also stated that while tear gas was used 13 times during the Alliance’s protests, it has never been used against MDP’s Direct Action protests.

Speaking at the press briefing, Inspector Ahmed Shameem said that while the Police has never used tear gas against protesters since Nasheed resigned and Dr. Waheed assumed presidency, there may have been instances where the Maldives National Defence Forces used tear gas in joint operations. According to records, MNDF used tear gas during the extremely violent protests staged by MDP on 8th February and on the occasion of Opening the Annual session of the People’s Majlis.

Inspector Shameem also said that while the police used pepper spray against Alliance’s protests during Nasheed’s regime 62 times in 22 days, it was used only 22 times against MDP’s Direct Action protesters in the same number of days.

While MDP’s Direct Activism protests injured 48 police officers, all of MDP’s protests following 7th February have injured 77 police officers, while the police used force 76 times.

In response to the claim that the police are uneducated, Inspector Shameem said that 80 per cent of SO officers have passed general certificate of ordinary education, and that 13 per cent of them have attained higher secondary education. He also said that while 5 per cent of SO officers hold diplomas, only 2 per cent do not have O Levels.

About the claim that the police perpetrate inhuman acts, Saif Hussain, Deputy Head of the Special Response Unit told reporters in today’s briefing that the police use force under Section 17 of Police Act. He said that the police will continue to use force where it is necessary under the Section, and said that the claims of inhumanity leveled against the police are concocted, baseless allegations.

The police then conducted a demonstration of how forced is used under Section 19, and said that there is a possibility that a person being taken into police custody may be hurt in a minor way if he or she refuses to cooperate, depending on the gravity and nature of particular circumstances.