MALE, Jan 15 (HNS) - Police have arrested eight people in connection with unrests which took place in Addu atoll Thursday and Friday nights in the aftermath of which a police jeep was torched and police and people were injured.

Maldives Police Services said that those arrested included two underage children.

It is reported that the reason for the clashes which took place in Addu is that Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Dhivehi Rayyitunge Party (DRP) were holding meetings in schools close to each other in Hithadhoo island Thursday night and some people threw stones into the compound of the building in which DRP was holding their meeting. Clashes broke out between members of MDP and DRP when the meeting of DRP concluded. Police said that three people were injured in those clashes.

DRP’s meeting was held in Muhibbudeen School. MDP’s meeting was held in the Atoll Education Center which was some 150 feet away from the venue of DRP’s meeting but on the same street.

Police released a press release Saturday which said that police were injured Thursday at around sunset when a bus driven at 80 kilometers per hour hit the special taskforce policemen who were holding shields. Police said that two policemen were blown away to a distance of about 13 feet. Police said the two of them are in stable condition.

“The bus hit police and the two drivers in it fled abandoning the bus. We have information that the said bus is used by MDP,” the police press release said.

MDP did not make a statement regarding the incident Saturday.

Police said the identity of the bus drivers is now known to them.

Several people’s heads were busted open in the clashes which took place Thursday night and had to be treated in Hithadhoo Regional Hospital. The hospital said that five injured people were brought to the hospital and that three of them were injured seriously.

“Two people had some amounts of injury. The lower part of the eye socket of one person was broken,” Hospital manager Abdullah Saeed said.

Some eyewitnesses said that the people got injured because of the stones which were thrown by other people.

Regarding the unrest DRP’s registrar Ibrahim Shafiu said Saturday that the violence took place because of actions done by MDP deliberately to create unrest.

“If that is not so they would not suddenly charter a flight and come here from Male just as we were going to hold a meeting of our party,” Shafiu said.

“We also tried to get Education Center hall but we could not.”

MDP’s spokesman Hamid Abdulghafooru said that MDP’s meeting was not a sudden one.

“That meeting was scheduled for the ninth of this month. However we could not hold that meeting because the flights were full. We tried to charter a flight from Island Aviations and Air Taxi. We could not get one from Island Aviations. Air Taxi said that they will inform when a flight could be chartered. We got space Thursday. That is why we went that day,” Hamid said.

“The unrests which took place in Addu did not occur because of the party meetings. The reason is that the people were intimidated and angered.”

Hamid said that the clashes took place when people who attended MDP meeting were on their way after the meeting and were confronted by police because they were chanting for the resignation of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Hamid said the police came out of Muhibbudeen School which was the venue of the DRP meeting.

Hiyalee Mohamed Rasheed who attended the DRP meeting said that the first unrest took place when members of DRP confronted Principal Abdulla Didi because of something which he said over the phone while in Muhibbudeen School. He said that at that time people who attended the MDP meeting also gathered to that place.

“It is I who saved Didi by having him enter one of the classrooms. Then stones were thrown. I saw some twenty sacks of stones. I do not know from where they came. The police taskforce came to the scene within a minute. They were not inside Mubibbudeen School.”

Some eye witnesses said that when police stopped people who attended the MDP meeting they started shouting and throwing stones. Then people who attended the DRP meeting came out and they also got involved in the clashes.

“Then the clashes became strong. Had police not gotten in the way people would have suffered serious injuries. Both sides were that much angered,” said a girl who attended the meeting.

Police said that since the meetings of both parties were taking place at the same time they were prepared for any disturbances which might take place. Police said that they were behind both schools and on full alert.

After Thursday night’s unrest the situation in Addu was getting tense. Some MDP officials said that they were given death threats.

MDP’s Shadow Tourism Minister Ibrahim Shareef said that he received death threats while he was on his way home after attending the meeting.

After Thursday night’s unrests, matters got worse when the Air Taxi flight chartered by MDP was prevented from carrying MDP members back to Male. MDP points the finger of accusation at DRP. However DRP’s registrar denies the charges.

“We would be supporting for MDP to leave so that we could carry on our actions peacefully. Why would we want to stop them?” DRP’s registrar Ibrahim Shafiu said.

MDP’s senior officials say that police entered MDP office in Hithadhoo Friday evening, arrested some people and even hit shadow cabinet member Ibrahim Didi (Modee) on the stomach.

“I was hit in the stomach twice. I was not hurt much,” he said.

However police did not say they hit Modee.

A police jeep was torched Friday night. Police said that the jeep was burned beyond damage.

The unrests were controlled at around midnight Friday.