Opposition supporters protest against the government's delay in releasing their jailed leaders, including former president Mohamed Nasheed, despite a Supreme Court order, in Male, Maldives, February 4, 2018.

"A large number of @PoliceMv [Maldives Police] around my residence. To protect me or to arrest me? No idea." That is the last tweet on the timeline of former Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was arrested early this morning after the government of Abdulla Yameen imposed a state of emergency in the island nation.



The imposition of an emergency in Maldives last night brought to a head a crisis that was sparked by the country's Supreme Court last week ordering the release of nine jailed political leaders, including ex-president Mohamed Nasheed.



The Abdulla Yameen government had refused to heed the Supreme Court's directive, sparking speculation that the top court may move to impeach President Yameen. That, however, seems to have been thwarted by the developments of last night, which saw the Maldives's Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed getting arrested.

CRISIS IN MALDIVES

The Maldives Supreme Court last week ordered release of ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, 8 others

The Abdulla Yameen government refused to heed the judicial order, sparking speculation the court could move to impeach President Yameen.

Last night, President Yameen declared a state of emergency in Maldives.

Maldives Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom were arrested.

The night itself was full of drama and chaos with initial - but unverified - information coming via Twitter. The social media website was where news of the emergency first broke and Twitter was where former President Gayoom seemed to send out a cry for help.

In his tweet quoted above, Gayoom tagged the top Indian diplomat in Maldives - Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra - as well as the US ambassador, the Maldivian defence forces, the country's human rights commission and global rights watchdog Amnesty International.

MALDIVES EMERGENCY | India, China advise citizens to avoid travelling to island nation



While he did not post any more tweets as Maldives descended into chaos, his daughter - Yumna - live-tweeted his arrest. "SO [Special Operations] police broke down the door and are arresting my father President @maumoonagayoom and husband @MNadhym right now," tagging her ex-president father's official account.

Maldivians were not the only ones tweeting out information about the emergency. The country's media too took to the social media website to post information and photos of the situation on the ground.



The Maldives Independent kept up a steady stream of tweets, reporting what initially seemed suspicious but later turned out to be true - that the Maldivian police had come knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court, the institution that sparked the current crisis.

The army has broken into the Supreme Court -https://t.co/YuCjgMnBxN — Maldives Independent (@IndependentMV) February 5, 2018

It later emerged that soon after emergency was imposed in Maldives, security forces had stormed the Supreme Court building in order to put Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and a couple of other judicial officers under arrest.

Live photos from nearby Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/f8hNY0HK6J — Maldives Independent (@IndependentMV) February 5, 2018

Police said in a Twitter message they had arrested Saeed and Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed "for an ongoing investigation", news agency Reuters reported.



So, after a night of high drama President Abdulla Yameen has tightened his grip on power. The fate of former president Mohamed Nasheed, whose release was ordered by the Supreme Court and who was seen as a potential challenger in Yameen in the elections scheduled for this year, hangs in the balance, as does that of the country's Supreme Court.



It must be noted that the emergency declared last night in Maldives is a temporary one, in effect for 15 days.

ANALYSIS | Crisis in Maldives: How India reacts to the situation will determine its standing in the region