The new president of the Maldives Mohamed Waheed, who is accused by his predecessor of taking part in a coup, struggled Thursday to contain “anarchy” in the holiday paradise as protests and violence spread. Waheed made two emergency cabinet appointments — home and defence — after supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed stormed police stations and burned government buildings in outlying atolls of the archipelago nation. “Even though the appointment of a national unity cabinet is taking time, the president made these two urgent appointments to take charge and control the spread of violence,” presidential aide Mohamed Shareef told AFP. “What you see on the roads is anarchy,” he said. The mayor of the second-biggest city of Addu, Abdulla Sodig, told AFP that police stations had been torched overnight. “There’s no law and order at all. It’s a complete breakdown,” he said by telephone.
