12 arrested after white underpants hung outside court

Police in the Maldives arrested 12 people on the island of Rasdhoo in Alif Alif Atoll late on Wednesday night, after a pair of large white underpants were hung outside the entrance to the island’s Magistrate's Court. The underpants were hung on a rope strung across the street in front of the court offices at about 5:00pm on Wednesday, “barely three inches away from the entrance, but nevertheless not in the court’s premises itself”.

The white underpants pants are a reference to recently-leaked videos of Supreme Court (SC) judge Ali Hameed apparently fornicating with unidentified foreign women in a Colombo hotel room, and have become a symbol of protests against the Supreme Court’s suspension of Saturday’s highly anticipated presidential election.



“Police from the Rasdhoo station started work to remove the underpants at around 7:00pm, prompting a immediate gathering of over a hundred people near the police office,” a source said on condition of anonymity. He said that the gathered people shouted at the police for removing the underpants: “Is the underwear the only illegal thing you could find on the street?” shouted some. “You can remove the underpants from this island’s court, but you do nothing about the ones sitting on the Supreme Court bench,” called others.

Eyewitnesses said the police resorted to the use of pepper spray and physical force to disperse the crowd. Another pair of underpants were hung in front of the Magistrate's Court later that night. Locals say that a back-up police team – nearly 30 officers in full riot gear – went to the island at around midnight to remove the new pair of underpants. Although no more confrontations occurred, 12 persons are now in police custody in Rasdhoo police station.