"If she was left to die on a roof, they’ll do the same to me”
Protesters share why they've been out on the street for six nights.
Artwork: Dosain
29 Apr, 6:57 PM
Hassan Moosa
“We want justice!” and “Lies, lies, lies upon lies!” chanted the young protesters who gathered for the sixth consecutive night near the police criminal investigation headquarters in Malé’s main thoroughfare.
The crowd of about 50 people, most of them under 30, was significantly smaller than previous nights. But traffic police officers were forced to close the road as the protesters took over a block of Majeedhee Magu outside police investigation headquarters.
The youth-led protest was sparked by an alleged coverup of a young woman’s unexplained fall from a nine-storey building on April 18. In the wake of the demonstration - the largest since President Dr Mohamed Muizzu came to power - the man who was with her immediately before the fall was arrested as police revealed CCTV footage and disclosed the identities of the eight other young people who were with them earlier in the night.
At the end of Monday night’s demonstration, organisers announced the protest will continue “digitally” until a planned mass gathering on Thursday, May 1 (May Day).
The Maldives Independent spoke to protesters, all of whom wished to remain anonymous. These are their words:
24 year-old woman
I’m here because I'm not happy that they left her there for four hours without anyone attending to her. I’ve been here every night except two. I’m not someone who usually takes part in protests, but I'm here because they left her there and she is not getting any justice.
21 year-old man
Every time something happens to a young person, no one in power comes out. That’s why I’m here, to get justice for all young people who’ve faced things like this and especially for [the victim].
We are protesting because of the failure of the system. I have lived my whole life in Malé, nothing has changed no matter who’s in power. This time we don’t want to let this go, unless something changes. So you’re seeing all that frustration, sadness and anger here. It’s not just about this case, we want justice for all cases they have covered up.
I’m here protesting because the system is asleep, they are not being transparent with the public, they are leaving information out, footage was also completely edited. It’s a problem. It’s been a problem for a long time, so we want the system to wake up and actually serve justice to the people who are responsible for this.
27 year-old man
I think a lot of kids are here because a Maldivian child was left to die on a rooftop and police didn’t take it seriously, ignoring the due diligence in carrying out their jobs. It’s not completely clear yet, but from what we can see it was done because of the influence of some politicians. Because of that negligence, we don’t see a way that this girl can get any justice.
We cannot hold police accountable at all, we don’t elect them. They enter this job on their own to protect and serve us, they have a sacred responsibility to protect us. If they try to sidestep that responsibility, people don’t have a choice but to come out and raise their voices.
If we let this go today, we’ll be condemning another ordinary Maldivian to be left to die tomorrow, while a rich kid will be shielded from responsibility.
This is the first time such a big group of young people who have not been taking part in any politics have come out. I think it’s because they recognise that if she was left to die on a roof, 'they’ll do the same to me.' I think there’s a recognition of that powerlessness. So for everyone here, I don’t see who they can turn to, there’s no political party to go to, there’s no institution to go to. I don’t think there’s anyone else for these kids who are coming out here. There’s no party, no institution, no media, it’s only what they do for each other. Young people have to get [justice] on their own again, there’s no freedom except what we get for each other.
25 year-old woman
I’ve been coming here since day one and I’m here because of the systematic failures that have been going on for years. Not just this year, but over the years through all governments. We are not here because of a specific government, we are here because of the police department. They have always been corrupt in every government. They are influenced by politicians every time. But this time, we just cannot stand it anymore. We are out here because we cannot bear this any longer. This time we want justice. We will not leave until we get it. We have made 10 demands. I don’t think they are unreasonable at all. It is very reasonable compared to what we are going through right now. The kids here do not represent any one party, these are kids who are genuinely frustrated because of this.
Growing up we have seen on the TV the corrupt things every government has been doing. Every year it gets worse and worse. Every year, stealing and corruption is increasing. At some point, we have to say this is enough, that’s why so many people are coming out here.
I’m happy that the [Commissioner of Police] resigned. But about the commission [of inquiry]: When three people were appointed, one of them has a conflict of interest. When the CP resigned, and a new one was appointed, they had to change it within an hour again. So it shows that there is a huge systematic failure, there is a problem in vetting people for positions too. It seems like a knee-jerk decision because we are out here protesting, so it’s always U-turns, it’s always backtracking.
26 year-old woman
I come here everyday, I am involved in organising this as well. I want to point out that because we have continued this for six nights without changing our tone, and some of our demands are being met. The president has walked back his comments saying that this is driven by partisan politics because every night we are reiterating that we see a coverup when something has happened to one of us. The inconsistencies of the police investigation have been exposed to the entire country. If you follow the news you can see, we are here every night sharing the updates of the day, and what the family are saying.
Tonight we have reordered the demands according to the family’s wishes, and we have again announced them. I want to ask everyone to report if they see content that violates the dignity of the victim in media and social media, and don’t follow media like that. This is a very clear-cut issue. Do not try to twist this by saying we are being used, we are ignorant or too young, or that we are here for some agenda, that is not it! The young people here are people who know each other. We believe that our work can bring significant police reform. CP Shuja’s resignation is an achievement because we continued to protest without changing our tune. We can get all our demands met, everyone please support us.
A presidential commission was formed and one [member] had to step down before they could even start because they faced accusations of family connections. The protesters here want to say that if the victims family can trust the new commission members, go ahead with the investigation. For sure this is something that requires a thorough inquiry of the police investigation because it wasn't until four days after the incident that people found out. That means there were a lot of people trying to cover it up. God willing, we are able to see clearly now because of the sharp thinking of young people who talked to each other and brought this to the surface, and we can clearly say that police officers like [the chief inspector who held the closed-door briefing] deliberately tried to twist the reality of this.
This protest is very organic. You would not believe that when we ask young people to come out, people just show up here and then we talk it out among ourselves and every night we are trying to give messages to the police and people watching this.
25 year-old man
I had to come here because there’s too much favour for nepo babies. If you don’t have any connection in the government, you don’t get any job security or anything. For me, I’m a licensed aircraft engineer, but when I apply I don't get any jobs. Only kids of politicians get jobs. It doesn’t matter if you complete higher studies and you want to live here, you don’t get job opportunities here, there is no job security here.
And what we are talking about here most is that a girl had fallen, but the one who left her there is a nepo baby, we are saying nepo babies for “veringe dharin” [children of leaders]. If it’s them, it’s okay, they don’t get tested even if they drink or teeter on the road like a kite while intoxicated, they can refuse to be tested. But if it’s us, normal people, we will have no choice but to have our hands cuffed and lie on the ground. That’s why we’re here. No matter who comes to power, it’s the same. We don’t want power, we are not here for a party, we are here to call for the rights of young people like us.
The Commissioner of Police has been changed thrice in one night since we started coming here. But every time it seems like whoever is appointed is corrupt. You can replace the police commissioner a lot of times, but we are calling for systematic change, overhaul of the system. We have seen a lot of administrations, in each campaign they talk a lot about working for the youth for our rights, but once they get power the people close to them gets seats and jobs.
Even if we study and want to live here, we don’t get that chance. It doesn't matter if you do a Masters or PhD, the children of ordinary people will not get the opportunity. We have to accept that reality.
So we have to come out to the streets and demand that. It only changes for the better when you demand for it, otherwise no one wants to listen. They think it’s time to find the youth whenever there’s an election. That will not do. We are saying listen to us, bring systematic changes, overhaul the police, MNDF and everywhere. We are on social media, we know what has been happening. In fact, we will know better than you, young people have done better investigation than the police there. We can investigate it much better. And they say there is no proof, but there is footage, unedited video footage. You can use tools like AI. We are saying bring a systematic change and give a chance to us young people.
The presidential commission is a card they are playing to our face just to shut us up because young people are out here protesting. How many commissions were made during [former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih] administration, did anything come out of it? They couldn't do anything, it blew up on their hands, they just did this to shut up the protestors and send them home. The presidential commissions are made by the president to report to the president himself. We are saying we want an independent, transparent (investigation) without lies, without sweating and crying in the press conference, and implement this better. The young people are not stupid, even if the nepo babies are teetering on the streets while intoxicated, most young people are smart and educated, they have access to social media, they know what is going on in the world.