Maldives’ Former Leader Calls for Early Elections

The former leader, Mohamed Nasheed, who resigned on Tuesday in what he says was a coup, rallied hundreds of people outside a mosque here in the capital, Male, in open defiance of an arrest warrant issued against him on Thursday. Later on Friday, he told reporters that the police and military were beating and arresting elected leaders and other supporters of his party — an accusation that the police denied.

His statements came two days after violent clashes erupted in Male between Mr. Nasheed’s supporters and police officials who used tear gas and wooden batons to disperse the crowds. While the capital was largely peaceful on Friday, reports from Mr. Nasheed’s supporters and others from the southern city of Addu suggested conditions remained volatile elsewhere in the country of 1,200 islands, which is known for its idyllic and luxurious beach resorts.

“As we speak now, in Addu the police and military are ransacking the city,” Mr. Nasheed said at a news conference on Friday afternoon, later adding: “I’m really hoping there is some kind of intervention. It’s hopeless. Our people are getting beaten up.”

A police spokesman based in Male, Abdul Mannan Yoosuf, denied those accusations, as well as claims by Mr. Nasheed that members of the Addu City Council had been arrested and its mayor deposed. “At the moment, it’s peaceful and under control,” Mr. Yoosuf said.

Ahmed Azaan, an 18-year-old resident of Addu who supports Mr. Nasheed, said in a telephone interview that a friend of his was detained, pepper-sprayed and held naked in a military base in Addu on Thursday before being released. The claim could not be independently verified, though some users of Twitter reported knowing people who were treated similarly.

The Maldives plunged into turmoil on Tuesday when Mr. Nasheed abruptly resigned as president after months of protests by opposition parties and Islamic groups. The next day, however, he said that he was forced to resign by security forces loyal to allies of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the country for 30 years before Mr. Nasheed was elected in 2008.

The former vice president, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who served under Mr. Nasheed and is a former United Nations official, was sworn in as president on Tuesday. Mr. Nasheed accused Mr. Hassan of conspiring with allies of Mr. Gayoom to displace him. But Mr. Hassan denied that charge, telling reporters: “Do I look like somebody who will bring about a coup d’état?”

In an interview on Friday with Agence France-Presse, Mr. Gayoom, who was traveling in Malaysia, also denied being involved in a coup and said that he had not decided whether he would seek to return to power. “I don’t think I will, but I cannot rule it out,” he told the news agency.

On Thursday, the Criminal Court of the Maldives issued arrest warrants for Mr. Nasheed and the country’s former defense minister. The specifics of the charges remained uncertain Friday, but government officials did not appear to be seeking to enforce it. Dunya Maumoon, the spokeswoman for Mr. Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives, said the government had not decided whether it would arrest Mr. Nasheed.

Trouble for Mr. Nasheed began in December when some Islamic political parties held rallies accusing him and his government of defiling Islam, the national religion. Among the accusations leveled against him was that his government had allowed spas and massage parlors to open in Male and other islands where most Maldivians live, rather than just on atolls where luxury resorts operate. The resort islands do not have to live by prohibitions on alcohol and pork products found in the rest of the country — a long-standing exception that long predates Mr. Nasheed’s term in office.