Black Friday (Maldives)

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Black Friday protest at Republican Square

Black Friday (ކަޅު ހުކުރު), August 13, 2004, is the crackdown by NSS on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Malé. This demonstration, unplanned and unorganized, was the largest such protest in the country's history ever. Started in the evening of August 12, 2004, the demonstration grew and continued till it was forcefully ended in the afternoon of August 13, 2004. Protesters were initially demanding to free the pro-reformist arrested in the afternoon of August 12, 2004. As the protest continued to grow, people demanded president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is in power since 1978, to resign. What started as a peaceful demonstration ended, after 17 hours, as the country’s darkest day in recent history. Several people were severely injured as NSS personnel used riot batons and tear gas on unarmed civilians.

Few minutes after the crackdown, president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom declared State of Emergency in Malé and nearby islands, pursuant to powers vested in him by Section 144 of the Constitution, for the second time in the Maldives history. Several members of the Majlis, former cabinet ministers and many reformists were arrested. All arrested were pardoned by president Gayoom, following the December 26 tsunami, as a symbol of unity.

Contents
1 Reform activities
2 Detention of the reformists
3 Demonstration
4 Crackdown
5 State of Emergency
6 Internet and SMS service taken offline
7 Local media reporting
8 External links

Reform activities

The Black Friday demonstration was associated with the reform activities started, in 2003, following the death of Evan Naseem. His death and the following riots of 20th September was partly responsible for the formation of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. Ever since MDP's formation, Maldivian government has been under constant international pressure. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is often accused as a brutal dictator, who uses fear and intimidation to rule, by the opposition movement. Gayoom's critics are often said to be arrested and tortured in jail, an allegation he continuously denies.

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Gathering near tetrapod monument

Facing continuous international and opposition pressure, Gayoom came up with a reform agenda in mid 2004. With this agenda he took a quite unusual step in allowing people to openly debate in public to discuss the reforms. Several debates were quickly organized by MDP in the name of Minivan Bahus. Though Gayoom allowed debates, no one from the government attended any of the debates. Instead members of the public and opposition movement gathered and heavily criticized Gayoom. Gayoom could no longer digest the previously unforseen criticism. Just after 6 debates, they were forced to stop, by means of not allowing government and public schools to facilitate the meetings. Though the public was allowed just 6 debates, the reform activities had gained such a momentum that they are now willing to gather in public places and raise their voice. People started gathering near Tetrapod Monument every night, located at the east end of Malé. Every opposition movement, from debates to these gatherings, was recorded by NSS.

The gatherings were soon banned by the heavy presence of police due to "National security concerns". This slowed the gaining momentum of the reform activities. Several key reformists were allegedly black listed and subsequently put under surveillance.

Detention of the reformists

In the afternoon of August 12, 2004, a black listed reformist, Mr Mohamed Yoosuf (Fulhu), was summoned to NSS. He was detained in Shaheed Hussain Adam Building opposite of NSS. Few days before Mr Yoosuf's arrest, four other activists were held and detained in Dhoonidhoo detention centre, a separate island near Malé.

Ahmed Adam and Abdul Rasheed were arrested after a police raid on August 9, 2004. Firshan Ahmed Zahir and Hussain Rasheed were arrested on August 10, 2004, reportedly after a verbal response to intimidation by a police officer.

Demonstration

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People gathered near Shaheed Hussain Adam Building

When police summoned Mr. Mohamed Yoosuf, few reform activists decided to gather near Republican Square to inquire about Yoosuf's detention. What started as a vigil at the Republican Square in Malé at dusk on August 12, 2004, turned into a mass gathering of people demanding for democratic reform.

As the crowd grew larger and the voice to free Mr. Yoosuf became louder, he was released that afternoon. However the protesters demanded four other reformists, detained in Dhoonidhoo detention centre, to be transfered to Malé. They also called for the release of Naushad Waheed, Ahmed Didi, Mohamed Zaki and Fathimath Nisreen; all who were detained, according to opposition movement, without a fair trial. By early morning of August 13, 2004, a large crowd was gathered near Republican Square, NSS and Shaheed Hussain Adam Building. Initially NSS and government minister Ilyas Ibrahim unsuccessfully tried to win the trust of the crowd by addressing the crowed over Megaphone. When they failed, they asked the pro-reformist MP Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra) to address the crowd in front of NSS. He convinced the crowd to move into nearby Republican Square.

After moving the crowed into Republican Square, Ibrahim Ismail addressed the crowd and assured them he would take the demands to the NSS authorities for their consideration. The crowd then cleared its demand, to Ibrahim Ismail, which were:

In the early morning, the reformists were released. They came directly from the Dhoonidhoo detention centre to Republican Square. There they addressed to the crowed, criticized Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and called for his resignation. They also demanded the demonstration to be lived on state run Television and radio. However no news of the protest was transmitted yet. The crowed continued to grow and "took a life of its own", as later described by Ibrahim Ismail in his interview on BBC.

At around 0700hrs? Maafushi jail was broken, thinking the government was overthrown, as the detainees got the news of the unusual protest in Malé. They headed to Malé in two Dhonis. However they were intercepted by NSS coast guard. One of the Dhonis was sunk and the other gassed with tear gas.

Crackdown

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Crowd being chased by NSS

As the calling for Gayoom's resignation got louder and stronger, few pro-government people gathered to Republican Square. Some of them were sent there, according to reformists, to create violence so that use of force to disperse the crowd could be justified. Since international media was reporting the event, NSS needed a valid and justifiable reason to use force to disperse the crowd. In several occasions the pro-government crowd tried to instigate violence. However reformists ignored them and continued the demonstration, calling for the resignation.

At around 0830hrs a person named Hussain Yoosuf stabbed two police officers. He is one of the many people who testified before the commission established to investigate the death of Evan Naseem. After this incident there was a report of fire in the nearby Huravee Building, a government office building. NSS blamed the crowd for starting the fire. In addition to this, there came a group of people who threw bottles and such objects towards the Police Headquarters. The protesters tried to stop them without any success. Police blamed reformists for these activities and portrayed them as a violent mob.

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NSS personnel in uniform and plain clothes

After Friday prayers, at around 1430hrs NSS issued final warning to the crowd. However they refuse to leave the Republican square. Using the previously described commotion as an excuse, the riot police pounced on the protestors, beat them brutally with truncheons and arrested a number of protestors. Women were also beaten with truncheons and they sustained severe injuries. Ambulances were rushed to the hospital with casualties. Tear gas was used on the crowed at around 1500hrs.

State of Emergency

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NSS personnel gaurding the building

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom declared State of Emergency in Malé and nearby islands, pursuant to powers vested in him by Section 144 of the Constitution, for the second time in the Maldives history. A curfew was imposed in Malé with heavy security. There were several road blocks and check posts.

Nearly after two months, the State of Emergency was lifted due to International pressure.

Internet and SMS service taken offline

Dhiraagu and Focus Infocom was forced to shutdown Internet and SMS services to prevent the images, video and news of the event leaking to international media and Dhivehi Observer, a banned website owned by Ahmed Moosa. However the events were covered and the images did leak to media despite these preventive measurements.

Local media reporting

Both Television Maldives (TVM) and Voice of Maldives (VOM), controlled by the government, initially did not report the event as a major event. At 1400hrs news, while the protest was still going, TVM reported that "only a small crowd had gathered and caused disharmony at the Republican Square, the people who caused this had been noted and that action will be taken against them". At 2000hrs news, after declaring the State of Emergency, TVM downplays the size of the protestors and calls the gathering "illegal in every possible sense"

Special programs were aired on Radio and TV to cover-up the real reason behind the protest. It was portrayed by the local media to be a violent mob that attacked police building, government properties and attack police officers. One sided, biased reporting was aired for weeks on the local media.

External links

See also: Black Friday (Maldives), 1978, 2003, 2004, Agenda, Ahmed Moosa, Ambulances, Amnesty International, Artist, August 10