Senior gov’t official harasses members of the public

Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology, Amaany Mohamed has harassed members of the public.

The incident reportedly occurred in the courtyard of Maafannu Madharusa during the by-election polls held on Saturday.

According to an eyewitness, Amaany yelled extremely offensive remarks and raised her voice at those present.

A person who was in the area at the time said that Amaany came and started yelling chaotically when some supporters of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who were there at the time asked, if you can enter without a pass when Minister Zameer entered the hall without a pass. She was seemingly angered by this remark.

A short while earlier, the same person said that elections officials had come and spoken to MDP supporters who were just inside the main entrance of Maafannu Madharusa.

The person said that an elections official came and said they couldn't stay there without a pass to which they replied that there are people near the classroom doors without passes as well, and that they were just standing near the school door.

The official is to then have turned back.

The person revealed that after that happened, when a minister entered without a pass, the people there asked if that could be done. After hearing this, the high-ranking government official is to have come at them with offensive remarks.

Several videos of the incident have also gone viral on social media. One video shows her gesturing towards a group of women standing quietly, pointing at officers of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and shouting "Get them out of here!" and calling them "big thieves" while churning chaos.

As she is seen gesturing and yelling loudly, the police officers can be seen stepping back, allowing her to do as she pleases.

The video also shows a large number of members of the public in the area.

After Amaany angrily yelled and left the area, someone there can be heard saying, "We won't stoop to that level."

Previously, a similar issue involving high-ranking government officials had surfaced. At that time, they had harassed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This incident strained relations between the two countries and negatively impacted Maldives' tourism. After that incident, the number of tourists arriving in the Maldives from the neighboring country had decreased significantly, and according to the statistics of the Ministry of Tourism, the number of visitors from India to Maldives has still not reached previous levels.