Maldives police use tear gas as protesters clash

Maldives police on Tuesday used tear gas and batons to break up an anti-establishment protest after a third night of clashes between government and opposition activists turned violent. Police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said at least six people were arrested after activists started fires on Monday night along the cobbled streets, damaging state and private buildings in the densely populated capital, Male. Several homes of opposition parliamentarians and senior members were also damaged by the unruly crowds, police said. Thousands of protesters led by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party took to the streets demanding the resignation of President Mohammed Nasheed for failing to ease their economic plight. Eyewitnesses said clashes erupted after government supporters hurled stones at around 2,000 opposition protesters led by several parliamentarians. Police said both sides then threw stones and bottles at each other, forcing them to use tear gas to disperse the unruly crowd. It was not immediately known how many people were injured, but opposition spokesman Mohammed Shareef told AFP by telephone that a number of women were hurt. "Several parliamentarians later met the police to raise concerns over the brutal force used by them to disperse the large crowd, who included a lot of young men and women," Shareef said. Nasheed, who was repeatedly jailed for protesting against Gayoom's autocratic regime, unseated the dictator of 30 years in the country's first multi-party election in 2008. But his administration has been dogged by allegations of graft, financial mismanagement and curbing political dissent. The opposition also blames Nasheed for failing to manage the economy - worth over a billion dollars - by recently devaluing the currency, while food prices have risen by as much as 30 percent. Shareef said the protests aimed to emulate those across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing for political reforms in dictatorial regimes. The Maldives, a nation of 1,200 islands scattered in the Indian Ocean, is famous as a luxury holiday destination but is home to a local population of 330,000 Sunni Muslims, many of whom live in poverty.