MALE, Maldives — The ousted president of the Maldives, credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean islands, said Wednesday that he had been forced out of power at gunpoint, prompting clashes between police and angry supporters.
Mohamed Nasheed, who in 2008 became the first democratically elected president of the 1,200-island archipelago, resigned Tuesday after three weeks of opposition protests culminated in a police revolt.
On Wednesday, it was as if Nasheed had stepped back in time: Riot police and soldiers launched tear gas grenades and beat him and other supporters, a scene played out scores of times under the 30-year rule of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whom he succeeded.
Witnesses said about 40 or 50 people, including Nasheed, were injured. Police and soldiers kept journalists out of Republic Square, the site of the protest.
A cousin of Nasheed’s, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, said the former leader “was beaten quite badly.”
Adam Manik, a senior official in Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party, said the former leader was in a safe house.
Nasheed on Jan. 16 ordered the military to arrest the criminal court chief justice, saying he was blocking corruption and human rights cases against Gayoom allies. That set off the protests that led to his departure.
“Yes, I was forced to resign at gunpoint,” Nasheed told reporters Wednesday. The new president, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, has denied there was a coup.
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