Police in B. Maalhos have ordered a makeshift hall, built for watching the World Cup in the island, to take down its banner over its ‘political’ content.

The hall, built for residents to watch the World Cup, has a yellow banner which reads “World Cup Island Hall” in Dhivehi, which is similar to opposition leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed’s current Presidential campaign slogan – “Island President”. Yellow is also the color of Nasheed’s party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Speaking to RaajjeMV, NGO MARS’s steering secretary Abdul Matheen said that they made the hall with the help of Maalhos council and young people in the island exclusively for watching the World Cup.

Matheen said the hall was built on a piece of land issued to MARS just to watch the World Cup and not for political activities. However, when people were watching the matches on the big screen on Friday night, police had entered the hall and ordered them to take down the banner over what was written on the banner.

“Everyone wanted that name. That’s why we picked it. The banner does not contain President Nasheed’s name. But they have made this a problem,” said Matheen.

He said that members of ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had also given them trouble while the hall was being built because they did not want to work with MDP members.

The 19-member Maalhos Awareness and Recreation Society (MARS) is also involved in providing cable connections as well as social activities in the island. The NGO has already built a water plant, preschool, and a badminton court in Maalhos.