Islanders against governments decision

Haveeru
Thulusdhoo residents throng Atoll Office
Residents of Kaafu atoll Thulusdhoo thronged the Atoll Office last Thursday in an effort to block Police officers from moving the office equipment inside to the new Atoll Office in Maafushi.

The Senior Assistant Atoll Chief Ibrahim Rauf said that when the Police officers had arrived in Thulusdhoo, around 300 residents of the island had surrounded the former Atoll Office building since 11:00am to express their dissatisfaction.

The crowd had said that unless someone senior enough to answer the residents’ questions arrived on the island, they would not allow any of the equipment inside the building to be taken away.

Some of the residents said that the crowd had blocked entry to the former Atoll Office building, so that the Police could not get inside. Another resident said that the crowd was requesting for an audit of the Atoll Office before anything could be removed.

“The Home Ministry announced that the Atoll Office was being relocated because the situation here wasn’t stable,” a resident from the island said. “The residents want the Home Ministry to elaborate on that and explain their reasoning. One year has passed since the new Government came into power. Other than Monaza Naeem, no one else from the Government has come here to see what the conditions here are.”

Despite the arrival of a large Police force in the island, there were no confrontations between Police and residents. Thulusdhoo residents have previously, on two separate occasions, thronged the Atoll Office due to the issue of the relocation of the Atoll Office to another island in the atoll.