Commonwealth human rights NGO calls for police brutality investigation
07 May 2015, 7:33 PM
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has called on the government to investigation allegations of police brutality and arbitrary arrest of protesters from Friday’s anti-government demonstration.
The international human rights NGO expressed concern with reports of police using disproportionate force against protesters during a crackdown on the 20,000-strong opposition protest. Nearly 200 protesters were arrested and 175 remain in police custody.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party has also alleged the police severely beat three men arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at the protest and threatened to kill them.
“The reports once again point to serious concerns regarding police excesses. Freedom of assembly is a fundamental tenet of participatory democracy and it is the duty of the government as well as the police to take measures to ensure people are able to exercise their right in a peaceful and meaningful manner,” said CHRI Director Maja Daruwala.
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