“This morning, about 500 opposition supporters along with some Islamic hardliners protested outside the army headquarters, shouting slogans, and some police officers mutinied and joined them.”
The president of the Maldives, one of the world’s most popular honeymoon destinations, resigned Tuesday after a revolt by police officers, his spokesman said, leaving the normally idyllic chain of islands in chaos.
Mohamed Nasheed was the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean nation in three decades.
“This morning, about 500 opposition supporters along with some Islamic hardliners protested outside the army headquarters, shouting slogans, and some police officers mutinied and joined them,” Nasheed’s spokeman said. “And so, the president was in a situation where he could either tell the army to forcibly crack down on the protesters or he could step down. He chose the latter.
“This is a situation where the first democratically elected president in the Maldives is taken down by a former dictator and his supporters,” the spokesman said.
Nasheed said in a nationally televised address that he was stepping down because he didn’t feel he was able to maintain security and peace in the country, which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
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