Maldives ruling party Friday taunted the now united opposition over the protest in the capital Male for what it insists showed the flailing public support for the opposition.
Maldives police on Friday used pepper spray and arrested several opposition supporters as hundreds gathered to protest in the capital.
The united opposition supporters had gathered in the main intersections of the capital Male but riot police had used pepper spray and taken several people into custody.
Shortly after the protest began, ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) deputy leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla told reporters that the police had not broken up the protest as "it was already over before it even began."
"They were calling out for the people living in high rise buildings to come down to the streets [to join the protest]. And we've also received information that Jumhoory Party was trying to secure protesters on contract basis. But all these attempts were unsuccessful. They couldn't find anyone to come for their protest for money," the Fonadhoo lawmaker alleged.
"This clearly shows how weak the opposition has now become. And how the support for president Yameen is growing with each passing day."
The outspoken lawmaker also alleged that top opposition figures had "fled" after calling for the public to protest.
"Where are their leaders? No one was to be seen. We can only see a couple of lawmakers. The people who are itching to be president were no where to be found. Because they are hiding away abroad," he added.
The protesters had been calling on the government to release political detainees and implement the Supreme Court order of February 1.
The island nation has been embroiled in fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on February 1 ordered the immediate release of jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.
President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on February 5 had declared a 15 day state of emergency after his last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed, purged the Supreme Court by arresting two judges and the remaining political leaders and ultimately had the order revoked.
As the state of emergency expired last week, president Yameen had got the parliament contentiously extend it by another 30 days.
President Yameen is facing mounting pressure even within the security forces after exploiting the rights suspended under emergency state to crackdown hard on the opposition as police have made a series of high profile arrests including former president Gayoom, three lawmakers, chief justice Abdulla Saeed, top court judge Ali Hameed and the chief judicial administrator.
Less than a day after the arrest of the two judges, the remaining three judges rescinded its ruling to release the political leaders referring to the concerns raised by president Yameen in the letters he had sent to the chief justice hours before state of emergency was declared.
The accusations against Gayoom included bribing lawmakers and judges to influence their authority while the deposed ruling party leader has also been accused of creating discord within the security forces to back the overthrow of his half-brother's government.
The two top court judges are accused of accepting bribes to influence Supreme Court rulings, abuse of power and blocking the functioning of the entire justice system.
In addition to Nasheed, the other top political leaders named in the now rescinded order included Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim, religiously conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla, former defence minister Mohamed Nazim, former vice president Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor and Gayoom's lawmaker son Faris Maumoon.
Former prosecutor general Muhthaz Muhsin, magistrate Ahmed Nihan and Adheeb's uncle Hamid Ismail make up the rest of the list.
