Maldivians burn Israeli flags in protest against medics
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Protesters in the Maldives burned Israeli flags over the weekend during protests against a visiting medical team from the Jewish state, police said on Tuesday.
Dozens of people gathered in the capital island male urging President Mohamed Nasheed's government to deport the Israeli team, who are offering free eye clinics to locals.
"The demonstrations were fairly peaceful. The medical team will leave on December 15th as planned," the police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told AFP by telephone from male.
Religious group the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives has spearheaded the protests and spread false rumours about the Israeli doctors on its website.
There was no immediate comment from Nasheed's office, but his website on Monday carried a report showing him meeting the surgeons from the Israeli humanitarian organisation Eye from Zion.
"The President said a vast majority of Maldivians appreciated the humanitarian work of the doctors," the report said, adding that eye from zion could collaborate with local medical NGO's in the Maldives.
Maldivians by law are Sunni Muslims and other religions are not allowed to have places of worship. In July, a Maldivian atheist committed suicide after complaining of being persecuted for not being a Muslim.
The Israeli team has conducted eye camps in male and some hospitals around the nation of more than 1,000 tiny coral islands, which is famous as a honeymoon destination.
Maldivian foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed told AFP that the eye camps were a success with many people making use of the Israelis' expertise.
The Maldives resumed ties with Israel in the early 1990s after previously banning its citizens from entering the country.
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