Minister of Home Affairs and Culture, Ali Ihsan, has stated that the Maldives Police Service has been using long-range acoustic devices, which were employed to disperse the protest organized by the MDP in Male’ last Friday, since 2013. The Minister made this statement at a time when some parties are expressing their dissatisfaction on social media regarding the use of this device to break up the opposition’s protest on Friday. The Police Service has stated that Friday night’s protest was dispersed due to violations of the law. The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) was used to disperse this protest.
Sharing some information about this device on social media, Home Affairs Minister Ali Ihsan said that the Maldives Police Service first used this device in 2013. He stated that at that time, SO Police used the LRAD mounted on a police vessel, and it was the LRAD 300X model. The Minister said that the LRAD 100X model was used to disperse Friday night’s protest, and this model was also used by the police to break up a protest held in May 2023.
The Home Affairs Minister said that LRAD is a device currently used by law enforcement agencies and militaries in more than 100 countries. He mentioned that it is used for long-distance communication, crowd control, border protection, and maritime safety and security operations. The Minister also noted that this device is used in emergencies as well. The Police Service has stated that Friday night’s protest was dispersed under the authority given to the police. They have said that the protest was broken up when participants confronted the police, removed and threw away barricades used by police to block roads, attempted to seize shields used by police to control and stop gatherings, successfully seized a shield, and when participants engaged in activities that violated the law.
