'Opposition arrests' in Maldives

President Gayoom denies there is any repression in the country

Members of a banned opposition party in the Maldives say police arrested more than 15 supporters in overnight raids.

A Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman said the operation in the capital, Male, was aimed at disrupting a protest march on Saturday.

But the government says the raids targeted burglary and traffic offenders and only eight people were held.

The opposition says President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom oversees a repressive regime, a charge he denies.

'Subversive material'

According to one opposition supporter, who has gone into hiding in Male, police burst into homes at around 0300, handcuffed members of the MDP, threw them into a van and drove them away.

However, government spokesman Ibrahim Waheed said police were trying to arrest two people suspected of involvement in a spate of recent criminal offences when others tried to intervene.

He said subversive material inciting public unrest was found in the raids.

MALDIVES BASICS 1,200 islands in archipelago Population is over 300,000 Majority is Sunni Muslim One-party rule since 1978 Low-lying islands vulnerable to rise in sea-levels

Opposition supporters said party council member Ahmed Nazim was among those arrested.

The BBC's South Asia correspondent, Adam Mynott, says Mr Nazim lost his job working for the United Nations last year after he spoke out on BBC television about alleged repression in the Maldives.

He is one of 15 people who were elected on Thursday to the council of the newly formed MDP.

The party has organised a mass rally for Saturday in Male to press its demands for more justice and freedom.

Opponents of the government say it is responsible for arbitrary arrests, detention without trial and torture in prison.

The government says there is no repression and that it has no political prisoners in its jails.