41 migrant workers arrested following unrest in Hulhumalé, remanded

The 41 expatriate workers arrested following an unrest in the capital’s suburb Hulhumalé on Monday, have been remanded by 15 days.

They were presented to court for the remand hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

Hundreds of workers contracted by Island Expert Private Limited protested in Hulhumalé on Monday morning. While the protest escalated causing unrest, police said that protesters had confronted officers.

In a statement released on Monday night, announcing that the 41 migrant workers are under investigation for criminal offenses, police said that the protesters “threw bricks towards the police officers who attended the scene and injured seven police officers”. There was damage to property as well, including police vehicles.

Officers of the police’s Pubic Safety and Response Unit of Special Operations Department were deployed to the scene.

The police also said that it “strongly condemns such violent behaviours that put life and property of the public and security services at risk”.

Assuring the public that “strict legal action will be taken against those who commit such violence and unlawful activities”, police said that it will not hesitate to take legal action “against anyone who promote or commit violence in these situations”.

Police also urged all to “not to resort to violence in the name of industrial conflicts” and instead to seek legal measures to resolve issues such as unpaid wages and other contractual disagreements between employees and employers.

While police officials were presented to the parliament committee on national security and foreign relations on Monday, Chief Superintendent Mohamed Basheer stressed that the failure to control these protests “threatens national security” and stressed that an increase in such protests will lead to challenges to law enforcement agencies.

The migrant workers staged some protests last week as well. The protests started from the Bodufinolhu unrest, where workers protesting over unpaid wages took 13 Maldivians as hostages. None of them were injured, and 19 of the migrant workers involved were arrested over the matter.

The Bodufinolhu incident has sparked outrage online, over migrant workers’ rights. It also led to police investigation into human trafficking and exploitation of migrant workers, against the company contracted to develop Bodufinolhu to a resort, RIX Maldives.

Local anti-corruption NGO, Transparency Maldives had described the Bodufinolhu unrest as “a consequence of injustices suffered by migrant workers in the Maldives, every day” and called on the state to investigate the issues that led to the unrest and take legal action against those who violated migrant workers’ rights, instead of re-victimising them.