childrenasshields
Children to be used as human shields
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Male’, Maldives, 22nd January 2006 (olhuala.com) – Women and children should constitute a significant portion of the protest assembly called by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) next Tuesday. This is while observers including all the other political parties in the Maldives and foreign diplomats and journalists predict the MDP's plan of direct action will end up in widespread violence, including damage to property and loss of life.
MDP leaders meanwhile indicate that they believe that the presence of women and children will 'stop the police attacking the demonstrators'. Privately they admit that it would give individuals within the assembled numbers 'certain freedoms' and protect the group from attack from the enraged public, a scenario much more likely than police intervention.
The formal statement appearing on the party's website and circulated via local media in printed flyers in Male' specifically requests "all party members and supporters to bring their families, young and old, to the assembly just after Asr prayers (around 3.45 PM)".
The main assembly is to be convened at the southwest harbour in Male'.
The statement goes on to say: "Please bring food and water for an anticipated lengthy stay", although it fails to specify what to do in the likely instance of individuals having to use toilet facilities. Social workers have been aghast at the proposals, confirming they were a sure recipe for disaster.
A public health official stated: "Children are not objects to be toyed with. They need the proper care and supervision at all times. And responsible parents have to choose carefully what environments are suitable for children."
"Taking children there is completely ridiculous. Don't the people who decided on this have children or families? I wonder whether they will be taking their children".
The party leadership also guarantees that 'public activities, including traffic will not be disrupted or halted', a claim that will be hard to hold up, and for which the party is going to be fully accountable for in the final analysis. The harbour area is home to a vital cog in the Male' transport system: the Villingili ferry terminal used by thousands daily in their commute from work and school. It is incomprehensible how even if the assembly numbered just a couple of hundred, they would avoid jamming this vital location.
Meanwhile, neighbourhood action groups are deploring the people not to heed the MDP's misguided call. "I am begging, yes begging everyone I see not to let their kids out of the house on the 24th", said a concerned resident who lives near the IGM Hospital.
"Sadly, the MDP have scared my family at least. I will not be sending my two kids to school on the 24th. I have seen too often what the MDP people have done to anyone and anything that stands in the way of their objective", he concluded.
Meanwhile, the latest statements also have a characteristic common to all MDP activity: different messages in Dhivehi (Maldivian) to those in the short English version. While the English one mentions the importance the party gives to 'Peace and Security', it is not stated in the Divehi version that the MDP will make sure that protestors will be peaceful at all times.
The MDP have not given the Maldivian public any undertaking that they will ensure that their activities will be peaceful, a glaring omission which opponents have taken to mean that the MDP intend to be violent.
A frequent criticism is that the MDP have so far been able to tag foreign observers along with their 'forked-tongue' approach to messaging. The MDP leadership somehow has decided that foreign observers can be duped into neglecting all their messages in Dhivehi, by producing what is ostensibly is a translation.
The majority of the Maldivian public is extremely disturbed at the upcoming events. They are ultra protective family people and are not noted for the leniency with which they treat people guilty of adversely affecting their children.
Click to read full story
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Male’, Maldives, 22nd January 2006 (olhuala.com) – Women and children should constitute a significant portion of the protest assembly called by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) next Tuesday. This is while observers including all the other political parties in the Maldives and foreign diplomats and journalists predict the MDP's plan of direct action will end up in widespread violence, including damage to property and loss of life.MDP leaders meanwhile indicate that they believe that the presence of women and children will 'stop the police attacking the demonstrators'. Privately they admit that it would give individuals within the assembled numbers 'certain freedoms' and protect the group from attack from the enraged public, a scenario much more likely than police intervention.
The formal statement appearing on the party's website and circulated via local media in printed flyers in Male' specifically requests "all party members and supporters to bring their families, young and old, to the assembly just after Asr prayers (around 3.45 PM)".
The main assembly is to be convened at the southwest harbour in Male'.
The statement goes on to say: "Please bring food and water for an anticipated lengthy stay", although it fails to specify what to do in the likely instance of individuals having to use toilet facilities. Social workers have been aghast at the proposals, confirming they were a sure recipe for disaster.
A public health official stated: "Children are not objects to be toyed with. They need the proper care and supervision at all times. And responsible parents have to choose carefully what environments are suitable for children."
"Taking children there is completely ridiculous. Don't the people who decided on this have children or families? I wonder whether they will be taking their children".
The party leadership also guarantees that 'public activities, including traffic will not be disrupted or halted', a claim that will be hard to hold up, and for which the party is going to be fully accountable for in the final analysis. The harbour area is home to a vital cog in the Male' transport system: the Villingili ferry terminal used by thousands daily in their commute from work and school. It is incomprehensible how even if the assembly numbered just a couple of hundred, they would avoid jamming this vital location.
Meanwhile, neighbourhood action groups are deploring the people not to heed the MDP's misguided call. "I am begging, yes begging everyone I see not to let their kids out of the house on the 24th", said a concerned resident who lives near the IGM Hospital.
"Sadly, the MDP have scared my family at least. I will not be sending my two kids to school on the 24th. I have seen too often what the MDP people have done to anyone and anything that stands in the way of their objective", he concluded.
Meanwhile, the latest statements also have a characteristic common to all MDP activity: different messages in Dhivehi (Maldivian) to those in the short English version. While the English one mentions the importance the party gives to 'Peace and Security', it is not stated in the Divehi version that the MDP will make sure that protestors will be peaceful at all times.
The MDP have not given the Maldivian public any undertaking that they will ensure that their activities will be peaceful, a glaring omission which opponents have taken to mean that the MDP intend to be violent.
A frequent criticism is that the MDP have so far been able to tag foreign observers along with their 'forked-tongue' approach to messaging. The MDP leadership somehow has decided that foreign observers can be duped into neglecting all their messages in Dhivehi, by producing what is ostensibly is a translation.
The majority of the Maldivian public is extremely disturbed at the upcoming events. They are ultra protective family people and are not noted for the leniency with which they treat people guilty of adversely affecting their children.
Click to read full story