Security forces did not take “sufficient measures” to control Addu City unrest: HRCM
23 Aug 2012, 8:45 PM
Security forces did not take “sufficient measures” to control the unrest in Addu City on February 8 as damage to private and public property could have been “minimised” if police and army carried out their duties, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) concluded in its investigative report (Dhivehi) released publicly this week.
On February 8, a brutal police crackdown on supporters of the formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) sparked riots across the country, with police officers forced off many islands while police stations and courts were burnt down in the southern atolls.
Following reports of police brutality and rumours of the death of a protester in Male’, police stations, police vehicles and the police training academy in Gan, as well as court houses, were set ablaze in Addu City. Addu is an MDP-stronghold and the second most populated area in the Maldives after the capital Male’.
Concluding its report on the events of February 8, the HRCM recommended that the Maldives Police Service (MPS), Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) should investigate the failure to contain the unrest and take legal action against security service personnel who were deemed negligent or responsible for the inaction.
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