President Solih's Motorcade getting stuck in an opposition rally
When the President of the Maldives’ motorcade gets stuck in the opposition party’s rally for 15 minutes, it is a matter of serious concern.
The security of a country’s President is taken extremely seriously, no matter which country it is, so when the President of the Maldives’ motorcade gets stuck in the opposition party’s rally for 15 minutes, it is a matter of serious concern.
On 21st March 2023, the President and the first lady of the Maldives, while returning from an event that was held in Hulhumale’, got stuck in the rally of the opposition party. This incident took place at 11:00 pm local time and according to a local news reports, the president and the first lady were stuck in the rally for 15 whole minutes in front of the headquarters of the opposing political party.
As the headquarters of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) is located on one of the main roads of Male’ City, it can oftentimes be difficult to avoid the rallies while you are in a hurry. This became a major issue, especially considering the fact that the safety of the President could have been easily compromised after being caught in the middle of the rally.
According to local news reports, 21 individuals were arrested from that night's rally, and out of which, four individuals were arrested on the grounds of intentionally disrupting the movement of the President’s motorcade. Out of the individuals that were arrested, only one person was released.
The National Integrity Commission has stated on their official Twitter account that the authority will be looking into the matter to see whether there were any shortcomings from the Maldives Police Services as well as the president’s personal security.
While no further official statements have been released in regard to this, the Maldives Defense Forces (MNDF) as well as the Parliament Committee is also looking into this matter in addition to the NIC.
While the opposing party strongly suggest that the President’s motorcade got stuck in the rally due to the negligence and failure of the President’s personal security, some senior officers along with the head of the army’s security affairs, Colonel Abdullah Ibrahim have reportedly been suspended.
