The police have warned they will take legal action against anyone spreading hateful information on social media to intimidate individual police officers and their families. The warning comes in a statement condemning threats and intimidation directed at officers who attempted to stop the rally organised by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on 3 October.
According to the statement, participants of the MDP rally took to the streets and clashed with the police while also engaging in unlawful behaviour, prompting officers to disperse the protest and maintain public order. The police urged the public to refrain from making personal information of police officers and their families public on social media.
The statement also noted that spreading hateful information on social media against individual officers and their families, in order to interfere with the officer’s official duties is a serious offence. The police have said that any such action that adversely affects an officer’s daily life or causes intimidation, though social media or otherwise, will result in legal action against the perpetrator.
The statement further warned that the strictest measures will be taken against anyone who commits any illegal act intended to obstruct police officers in the performance of their duties. Such acts to hinder law enforcement in any way are subject to prosecution, it said.