MALE, Maldives, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A leader of the Maldives said he wants authorities to investigate who was behind the alleged coup that forced him to resign from the presidency.
Mohamed Waheed was installed as president of the Maldives after Mohamed Nasheed left office Tuesday.
Nasheed said he was forced to resign by unidentified gunmen and called on the country's chief justice to investigate who was behind the apparent coup, The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports.
Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party said he was attacked by the Maldivian police.
"President Nasheed is being beaten up as of now in an ongoing peaceful protest," the statement was quoted by CNN as reading.
Maldives gets most of its income through tourism. The British government warned against unnecessary travel in the country's capital but noted there were no immediate threats of violence targeting tourists.
The advisory from London noted there were "violent clashes" between pro- and anti-Nasheed forces and later between the police and the national army. Nasheed was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying Tuesday that remaining in office would "only increase (the country's) problems."
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington had received assurances from Waheed.
"He expressed his strong commitment to a peaceful transition of power, the preservation of democracy going forward," she said.
