Left: President Mohamed Nasheed (center) stands outside the military headquarters before announcing his resignation in Male, Maldives, on Tuesday. Right: Maldives Vice-President Mohamed Waheed (center) poses as he is sworn in as the new head of state after Nasheed resigned.

MALE, Maldives - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives resigned and Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn as the new head of state on Tuesday after weeks of protests erupted into a police mutiny in the holiday paradise.

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Nasheed, 44, handed power over the Indian Ocean archipelago by saying continuing in power would result in his having to use force against his people.

"It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don't want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning," he said at a televised press conference.

Nasheed was in his residence and was not being detained, said Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef, responding to calls from an opposition party for Nasheed to be taken into military custody.

Early on Tuesday, rebel police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks. They later took over state television and began broadcasting an opposition channel.

Latheef told AFP that troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with the protesters and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.

An official close to the president denied the government had used rubber bullets, and a presidential official described the unrest as "an attempted coup" by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who Nasheed turfed out of power in the Maldives' first democratic presidential elections in 2008.

Latheef stressed there had been no military takeover but said the military had "advised" the president to resign.

Opposition's demands for Nasheed to step down have escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favoring opposition figures.

The judge was released soon after Vice-President Hassan took power.

There were already signs the unrest and instability of the Maldives, a country of 1,192 islands, were putting off tourists, who are a vital source of revenue for the country that demanded a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.

AFP-Reuters