I post this here because the avenues on Indymedia are currently down, and the more it is known the better. The main medias are not at the moment covering it at all - the fate of a small country.
It looks like there are large protests going on against the dictatorship in the Maldives (a set of islands to the southwest of India, 350,000 pop.) The government, led by Abdul Gayoom since 1978 (yeah, a dictator in other words), appears to have reacted to the protests with violence. A possible catalyst for the events seem to have been the arrest and torture of various activists, including opposition leaders, on friday. There has been ongoing violence; there are tanks in the streets, and a curfew has been laid down, but people are still gathering to protest (to my knowledge, peacefully) in defiance. Tear gas and pepper spray are reportedly being used, and rubber bullets appear to be being prepared.
The government will not let foreign journalists in, and may turn off the internet in the near future.
I report based on the testimony of a friend who is in the midst of the situation (join me in wishing him luck), and the collection of information contained on this site: http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/ - BBC news and even indymedia are blank with regards to any information on this situation. I do not know of the overall condition of the Maldives, whether the struggle is truly just, etc; but it seems evident from the testimonies of the torture and arrest of the opposition that it is a struggle that needs international attention. |
