The Joint Opposition have released a statement over the massive anti-government rally held in capital Male' city on Friday night.

Opposition members said that Friday's protest is by far the largest the country has seen since the May Day rally in 2015.

The statement published on opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s official website states that Friday's protest continued for seven and a half hours where it was observed that soldiers who were deployed onto the streets shot tear gas into the crowd.

Although the protesters emerged resilient from the clouds of tear gas, they officially ended the protest a few hours after midnight in the early hours of Saturday.

While thousands had taken to the streets in the capital city, they later moved their demonstration onto the high security zone of Republican Square and proceeded to call for President Yameen's resignation, and the implementation of the Supreme Court order on February 1, and for the return of democratic rule.

Arrested at Friday's rally include RaajjeTV's reporters Mohamed Fazeen and Mohamed Wisam, Head of Programmes Amir Saleem, MDP's Parliamentary Group leader Ibrahim Solih, deputy Parliamentary Group leader MP Ali Azim, Jumhooree Party MP Hussain Mohamed, several women and opposition party officials.

The statement also reads that although it has been six weeks since the administration imposed the state of emergency, a curfew for political activities and hundreds of arrests have been made, the serial protests have only been 'growing in size and duration'.