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| Friday, 3 October 2003 |
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From Moussa Ali in the Maldives It is of course tragic that a prisoner had died in police custody, and three others had been critically injured in a prison riot on September 20, resulting in their subsequent deaths. These matters are being investigated by a Presidential Commission with full powers and in the presence of members of Parliament. The incidents have shocked and saddened a whole nation. Yet the same day, something else also occurred in Male, the capital. A group of hooligans, mostly ex-convicts and drug-related gangs, sought to exploit the grief caused by the events, all of which involved prisoners convicted for drug offences, attacks the general hospital, seriously endangering the lives of many patients, including babies in incubators, and proceeded to vandalise the capital. The police and security forces in Male showed great discipline and forbearance in dealing with the violent gangs who, even much later, slashed policemen with board-cutters while resisting arrest. Three policemen, who were trying to talk to the crowds, were seriously wounded, a further 46 members of the security forces suffered various injuries. Many of these policemen have required emergency medical evacuation overseas for treatment. It must be noted that the police dealt with the vandalism very leniently, using only water cannon to repel a likely storming of the barracks. Other than that, they were content to appeal to calm, and monitor the disturbance hoping that the anger would dissipate and sense would return to the crowds. But for reasons yet to be explained, perhaps because they failed to provoke a confrontation with the police, the crowds moved to attack the police kiosks in each of the four wards of Male. The kiosks are manned by a handful of clerical police staff, who keep track of traffic offences and keep a eye on petty crimes, committed mostly to finance narcotic addictions, in the neighbourhood. A lot of people came out on to the streets as shocked but curious bystanders, but nearly all of them returned after the President explained via television and radio what had happened, announced the arrest of five policemen, pledged justice, and appealed for calm. |
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