More than a 100,000 participated in yesterday

The Civil Alliance, also known as Union of the Civil NGOs, has stated that the Mass Protests organized by them yesterday in unison with opposition political parties to express the Maldivian people’s love and adherence to Islam were participated by more than a 100,000 people across the country.

Abdullah Muhammad, the Deputy President of the Civil Alliance, who played a key role in organizing the Protests and was the master of the ceremony at the protests in Malé, said that the number of protesters exceeded their expectations. The Civil Alliance had called for a 100,000 people to take come out to participate in the demonstrations.

Organizers have given the number of protesters in Malé to be about 20,000 people. “We had more than 15,000 national flags to be distributed among protesters, and after it began, we distributed all of them and still there was a large portion of the protesters without flags”, said one of the organizing officials.

By these numbers, the Mass Protest in Defence of Islam would go down in history as the largest mass demonstrations that the country has so far seen in its entire history.

A PEACEFUL CALL BY THE FAITHFUL

The Mass Protests were conducted throughout the country including Malé the Capital, from 4 pm yesterday until 11:50 pm last night. In Malé, the protesters were gathered at the newly dubbed Victory Square, near the site of the Tsunami Building to the Eastern End of Malé, in islands across the country, protesters are reported to have conducted lorry drives, walks, etc.

Although the government had repeatedly accused of violent intentions on the part of the protesters and organizers before yesterday, the organizers of the protests, including about ten Muslim scholars of the country, repeatedly reminded participants of Islamic values of peacefulness and non-violence and urged all protesters to strictly adhere to these values in all cases, and the protests began, continued, and ended peacefully.

The only reports of a violent confrontation came from Vaikaradhoo, an island belonging to H.A. Atoll in the north, where pro-government, MDP activists attacked the protesters. 9 people were reportedly injured and given treatment at Vaikaradhoo Health Centre.

5 DEMANDS

The organizers of the Mass Protest, on behalf of the faithful across the country, called on the government to fulfill five demands of the people.

The first demand was to cleanse Addu City of the idols that have been kept by the Maldivian Government there immediately.

The second demand was for the President Nasheed to at least apologize for the mockery of Islam observed by UN Human Rights Commissioner Nave Pillay at the People’s Majlis weeks ago, which the majority of the Maldivians believe, was an act directed by Nasheed’s government with foreign Islam-hating accomplices.

The third demand was to immediately terminate the Government’s license for the Israeli National Airline’s flights to Malé, as Israel has for decades killed, tortured, detained, and violated in all manners the Muslim and non-Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine without any justification, any mercy, and against all international laws and the dictates of human conscience.

The fourth demand was to stop the campaign to start selling alcoholic drinks in inhabited islands of the Maldives by walking around a law that prohibits sale of alcoholic drinks in any inhabited island through declaring parts and pieces of inhabited islands as “uninhabited islands”.

The fifth demand was to stop whorehouses across Malé which are being operated with the face of massage parlors.

About the demands of the people, Mohamed Zuhair, Press Secretary at the President’s Office told Sun last night that he was “confused about who was making the demands”. He said that he did not know whether they were being made by the participants of the Protest, or by the Civil Alliance, or by the opposition political parties that participated in the protests. Zuhair did not make any comments on the fact that the political parties, the Civil Alliance and the protesters were speaking as one in their demands.

PRESIDENT ACCUSES PROTESTER

In a gathering by MDP activists last night as a counter-protest against the demonstrations by the people of their love and adherence to Islam, President Nasheed spoke by saying that his government was being criticized because it refused to act upon “new things introduced in the name of religion”.

“We have many things that have been introduced among us newly; for instance, prohibition of music, marrying 9 year old children, and having concubines. We do not support or allow these things, and that is why they say the government is against Islam. But we will never do those things”, said the President.

Despite the President’s accusations, from no quarter of the Mass Protests were heard any calls of any demands for the vile, un-Islamic practices that he accused the protesters of demanding from the Government.

Neither did the President address any of the issues raised by the protesters.