Maldivian Army Locks Down Country's Parliament

Maldives military and police forces locked down the country’s parliament on Monday, July 24, after opposition lawmakers attempted to move ahead with a vote to remove Speaker Abdulla Maseeh, an ally of President Abdulla Yameen.According to local news source Maldives Independent, as well as international reports from Al Jazeera, dozens of soldiers and police in riot gear roughed up opposition lawmakers and their followers, who had gathered around the parliament compound to drum up support for the vote. Two lawmakers – Mohamed Ameeth and Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim – were arrested, and reports of police using pepper spray and forcibly dragging people from the building circulated on social media.Following the chaos, the parliament session of the day was cancelled, and the Maldives Police released a statement arguing that authorities had investigated “a case of obstruction of police duty against members of the Parliament of Maldives who broke into the restricted area around the Parliament building.”These videos, shared by a local journalist, show the chaos around the parliament building as well as continued clashes with police later in the day.President Yameen’s administration has been accused by the opposition of corruption, Reuters reported. Credit: Twitter/Junayd via Storyful