Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheedh was deposed on Tuesday after month-long protests that the country’s media linked to the closure of local spas.
None of the 2,000 Russian tourists currently vacationing at the tropical resort had their stay disturbed by clashes between police and the Maldivian Army, the Russian Embassy in the Maldives said on Tuesday.
Nasheedh announced his resignation in a televised message, saying he has no desire to “rule with an iron fist,” several news agencies reported.
Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik became acting president while opposition parties are to discuss new elections, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Hundreds of Maldivian police rebelled on Tuesday after being ordered to stop keeping supporters of the government and the opposition from clashing in the streets of the capital, Male.
Army units deployed to quell the upsurge pelted angry cops with rubber bullets, but failed to stop them. Policemen stormed the local television offices, which switched broadcasts to messages from the opposition, while Nasheedh sought shelter in the army headquarters.
The political crisis in the island state of some 400,000, located in the Indian Ocean near the Equator, began last month, when Nasheedh ordered to shut down hundreds of local spas and massage centers, most of which turned out to be controlled by the opposition.
Street rallies eventually prompted Nasheedh to reverse the order, but protests reignited after he had the head of the country’s Criminal Court arrested on accusations of him working on orders from former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the country for 30 years and lost to Nasheedh in the first democratic elections in the history of the Maldives in 2008.
The Maldives earn 30 percent of their annual GDP, or $1.5 billion, from tourism. Some 30,000 Russians visit the islands every year, according to Russia’s State Statistics Service.
