wish the Maldives would have a consolidated democracy. I wish for justice to be established. My wish is for the progress and prosperity of the people. And I thank you all for your support and contributions to achieve success for the past three years." He also stated his hope that his resignation might avoid international pressure on the Maldives over the unrest. Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who claims to have opposed Abdulla Mohamed's arrest, was then sworn in as the new president, and a warrant was issued for Nasheed's arrest. Nasheed later wrote that he was forced to resign "at gunpoint", and that "powerful networks" of Gayoom loyalists had manipulated events to "strangle" Maldivian democracy. The coup interpretation was also backed by UK MP David Amess, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group to the Maldives, but contradicted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who asserted that Nasheed "had resigned". Nasheed's successor and opposition forces also stated that the transfer of power was voluntary. A later British Commonwealth meeting concluded that it could not "determine conclusively the constitutionality of the resignation of President Nasheed", but called for an international investigation. The Maldives' Commission of National Inquiry, appointed to investigate the matter, found that there was no evidence to support Nasheed's version of events. The U.S. State Department and the Commonwealth of Nations Secretary Kamalesh Sharma welcomed the release of the report, and called on Maldivians to abide by its decision. Chief of the Defense Force Moosa Ali Jaleel, however, said the circumstances leading up to the resignation of the former president gave rise to the fact that resignation was obtained by "illegal coercion". "I fully believe that President [Nasheed] resigned under duress," he said. According to former military intelligence head Ahmed Nilam, "Academically speaking, the events on February 7 fulfilled all the essentials of a coup. It involved all the features of a coup that are widely accepted around the world." On 8 February, the MDP convened an emergency executive meeting and called for its members to go into streets. President Nasheed then attempted to lead the protesters to the Republic Square. Before his march reached the square, however, the Maldives Police Service dispersed the protest with batons and pepper spray. An Amnesty International spokesperson later condemned the police tactics as "brutal" and "outright human rights violations". Post-presidency In the weeks following Nasheed's resignation, he requested that the Commonwealth