Government says it is surprised by Azim’s allegation of a government‑orchestrated attack and notes the incident was not reported to police

The government has responded to claims by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) that the attack on Male' City Mayor Adam Azim during the party’s rally in Male' on Friday evening was orchestrated by the government, saying it is surprised by the allegation and by the fact that the incident has not been reported to any official authority even now.

In an interview with Adhadhu on Friday, Azim alleged that the government had premeditated the attack. He condemned the incident.

The government denied the allegation in a statement on the incident, saying President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu had seen a video of the attempted attack on Mayor Azim and condemned the act in the strongest terms. The statement said the Mayor is directly elected by the people, and that it is unacceptable to attack or intimidate any political leader.

According to the statement, government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) said he did not know on what evidence Azim based his claim that the government was behind the incident. The statement said the allegation was a complete lie, and described making such claims as a very low‑level act.

The statement quoted Mundhu as saying that neither the MDP nor the Male' City Council had reported the incident to the police for several hours. However, police have now launched an investigation on their own initiative after seeing the video circulating on social media.

Meanwhile, the statement said the police will always conduct threat assessments of senior government officials, and the government assures that security will be provided if there is any danger.