MALE (Reuters) - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean archipelago, resigned on Tuesday in what his party said was a coup after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny.
Nasheed, the Sunni Muslim nation's first democratically elected president, handed power to Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik. In a televised address Nasheed said, "I believe that if the government were to remain in power it would require the use of force which would harm many citizens."