Nasheed, the Maldives’s first democratically elected president , handed over power to Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, explaining that continuing in office would result in his having to use force against the people.

“I resign because I am not a person who wishes to rule with the use of power,” he said in a televised address. “I believe that if the government were to remain in power, it would require the use of force, which would harm many citizens. I resign because I believe that if the government continues to stay in power, it is very likely that we may face foreign influences.”

It was not immediately clear to what influences he was referring. India helped foil a coup on the islands in 1988 by sending a battalion of soldiers to back the government.

Nasheed swept to victory in 2008, pledging to bring full democracy and speaking out passionately on the dangers of climate change and rising sea levels. However, he drew opposition fire for his arrest of a judge he accused of being in the pocket of his predecessor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years. Protests at the arrest set off a constitutional crisis that had Nasheed defending himself against accusations of acting like a dictator.

“It’s a coup, I am afraid,” an official at Nasheed’s office said, asking not to be identified. “The police and Gayoom’s people as well as some elements in the military have forced president Nasheed to resign. According to my book it’s a coup.”

The new president said that Nasheed was in protective police custody for his security. “We will insist Nasheed is tried for his corruption, for his violation of rule of law,” said Hassan Saeed, leader of the DQP, one of the parties in the opposition coalition.

Overnight, vandals attacked the lobby of the opposition-linked VTV TV station, witnesses said, while mutinying police attacked and burnt the main rallying point of Nasheed’s Maldives Democratic Party before taking over the state broadcaster MNBC and renaming it TV Maldives, as it was called under Gayoom.

Today soldiers fired teargas at police and demonstrators who besieged the Maldives National Defence Force headquarters in Republic Square.

Later in the day, scores of demonstrators stood outside the nearby president’s office chanting Gayoom! Gayoom!.

An official close to the president denied the government had used rubber bullets, but confirmed that about three dozen police officers defied orders overnight and attacked a ruling party facility.