23 December Alliance and political parties hold rally against arson

23rd December Alliance and some of the major political parties of the Maldives who work with the Alliance have decided to hold a rally tomorrow night at the Victory Square, in protest of large scale arson perpetrated by former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Wednesday, last week.

On the 7th of this month, activists of MDP, led by some of the party’s prominent leaders, took to the streets in a number of islands in the south of the country, and burned down half a dozen court houses and a number of police stations. These acts of violence, almost unprecedented in the history of the Maldives, were committed by outraged activists of MDP after their party leader and former President Nasheed was forced to resign on Wednesday, when the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defence Force joined the people in protesting the unconstitutional and unlawful acts that Nasheed was committing.

The 23rd December Alliance and their partner-political parties held a news conference today at the studio of VTV. In the conference, Imran Abdullah, President of Adhaalath Party said that a number of activities would be carried out in Malé starting from tomorrow night, to send the message that the Maldivian people are against such violent acts as arson.

“We, the Maldivian people, are against arson. With God’s Will, we will conduct a number of different activities from tomorrow night onwards, to make this stand very clear”, said Imran.

Imran said that the 23rd December Alliance and its partner-political parties had set an excellent example, when they conducted peaceful protests without committing acts of violence such as arson, from the 16th of last January until the 7th of this month.

Imran was referring to the protests that started on the 16th of last month, when former President Nasheed’s Government arrested Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdullah Muhammad, and concluded on the 7th of this month, when finally the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defence Force joined the people in saying no to a prolonged series of unconstitutional and unlawful acts and orders by Nasheed’s government.

“We continued protests for days and days, without causing such damage to public and private property; but MDP could not protest even for one day without creating havoc in the whole country, by burning down court houses and police stations, and causing extensive damage to private property as well”, said Imran. He said that the Maldivian people would not sit and watch MDP repeat the same behavior.

The 23rd December Alliance also said that they would conduct the protest as permitted by the Maldives Police Service, and within the boundaries of law.