Violent riots in Maldives

The United States is to send a top diplomat to the Maldives to gauge tensions on the island following what the ousted former President Mohamed Nasheed has said amounted to a coup.

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake will include a stop in the Maldivian capital, Male, whilst on tour in the region. He is to holds talks in the island chain with US diplomats attached to embassies in Colombo in nearby Sri Lanka, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

"We are urging the government and the political parties to work together to resolve this situation peacefully. And we're continuing to monitor the situation," he said.

Meanwhile, violence continued around the Maldives on Wednesday, with 30 people reportedly injured after thousands of Nasheed supporters clashed with riot police in Male.

Angry protesters on at least four outlying islands across the archipelago seized police stations and set fire to government buildings amid claims Nasheed was the victim of a bloodless coup.

On the island of Thinadhoo, a mob of up to 1,000 people stormed a local police station and set fire to a court building and a council office, Mohamed Shareef, a senior politician from Nasheed's MDP party, told news agency AFP.

In Male, rioters threw petrol bombs at police and vandalized a private TV station that had been critical of Nasheed's government, demanding that the former president be reinstated. Police had earlier fired tear gas at the protesters and arrested two members of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party. Allies of the former leader also reported that Nasheed and other top party officials were beaten by police in the ensuing street chaos.

Police were planning a "joint operation with the armed forces," to bring the situation under control, Chief Inspector Abdul Mannan Yoosuf said Wednesday. "But how and when it will be done will be decided later," he added.

Forced to step down

Earlier Nasheed told reporters that he had been forced to resign "at gunpoint."

"There were guns all around me and they told me they wouldn't hesitate to use them if I didn't resign," he said. "I call on the chief justice to look into the matter of who was behind this coup. We will try our best to bring back the lawful government," Nasheed added, urging his successor, President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, to resign.

"We will never step back. I will not accept this coup and will bring justice to the Maldivians."

Three weeks of anti-government protests culminated on Tuesday in a mutiny by a small group of police officers who refused to break up the protests. They took over the state television offices in Male and broadcast calls for Maldivians to join the demonstrators.

Addressing a news conference earlier on Wednesday, Hassan denied claims he had been part of a coup. He said he had not prepared to take over the country and he called for the creation of a unity coalition to help it recover.

"Together, I am confident, we'll be able to build a stable and democratic country," he said, adding that his government intended to respect the rule of law.

The Maldives, a double chain of islands southwest of India, is one of the world's most famous luxury tourist destinations. Presidential elections are scheduled for November 2013.

dfm/ccp/ncy (AFP, AP, Reuters)