Police say force against Yameen supporters in review

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has said that the circumstances under which their officers used force in controlling unrest at Malé’s state-run hospital on Wednesday is under review.

A statement on Wednesday evening says their ‘use of force review committee’ will scrutinize the circumstances under which the officers used force.

In Wednesday’s statement, MPS says their officers used pepper spray against supporters of former president Abdulla Yameen after considerable warning, and that officers only used pepper spray after demonstrators forced themselves into the hospital’s cardiology center.

MPS, which handles security at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, says the demonstrators had been repeatedly instructed against loud demonstration within the hospital premises, which they did not cease.

Prominent supporters of the former president, including parliamentary leader of his party Ahmed Nihan, were subject to pepper spray, photos of which were posted on social media; MP Nihan is also seen placing a rock under a police vehicle, as his peers cheer him on.

Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives also organized rally under the tag ‘FreePresidentYameen’, which has had its iterations on social media as well.

Yameen was on Monday found before the Criminal Court to be a flight risk and remanded until sentencing in money laundering charges against him.

The former president was on Wednesday admitted for a period of 24 hours.