(Trinidad Express) Police fired tear gas to disperse an unruly crowd of approximately 300 protesters and detained 12 of them at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, yesterday.
Most said they were at the Savannah to protest the “mandatory administration of vaccines”.
Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob however said no permission was granted for the march.
“People can gather in groups of ten, but if it turns into a large gathering and then a march it becomes a problem,” he told the Express after the incident. He explained that this not only violates the current public health protocols but becomes an event where permission is required.
From 10 a.m. the crowd gathered at Queen’s Park South opposite the BP Trinidad and Tobago building.
About 20 police officers were present monitoring the crowd and a mobile detention unit was parked nearby.
Two senior officers, one in plain clothes and another in uniform, said they were there to “keep the peace”.
The majority of the crowd then marched around the Savannah shouting their suspicions about the vaccines and at passing motorists telling them to resist the Government’s continued vaccine rollout, which they described as “oppression”.
Some motorists responded by honking their horns.
During the march, leader of the First Wave Movement Umar Abdullah was detained and placed into a police car. The march continued.
Following the march, the large crowd assembled where they started and small groups began holding court, each making claims about the vaccines and urging people to visit various websites for “the truth”.
Go home!
From about noon police began asking the crowd to disperse.
The Express witnessed the officers approaching small groups, quietly asking them to leave.
“Oh gorm. Allyuh go home, nah,” one officer was heard telling a small group. Some in the crowd said they sympathised with the police.
“They only doing their jobs and we cannot fault them for that but with this protest we trying to save them life too,” one of the protesters was heard telling the crowd.
Some people got into their cars and left, but over half remained.
The Express left the area for approximately half an hour, but, upon returning, found the police had been joined by approximately 15 more officers dressed in riot gear. They wore helmets, gloves, body armour and carried large clear plastic shields. Some had what appeared to be shotguns while others had tear-gas dispensers.
They gathered on the side near the Paddock and stood there for approximately 15 minutes. In the meantime the other officers stopped asking, instead telling people that they needed to disperse.
The remainder of the earlier morning crowd remained stoic.
The officers then marched off and took up a line position on the western end of where the crowd remained.
With a unified shout, the officers advanced forward.
Some more members of the crowd got into their cars and left, but still some remained. Some of the officers then began approaching those who appeared to be instigating the crowd to “stand their ground”.
Officers began detaining them.
First there was a shout, followed by a group of about three to four officers quickly overpowering a man and hauling him towards the detention unit.
There was another shout from police and the officers moved forward again. As they got closer this appeared to agitate a few people in the crowd who began shouting at the police. Others began joining in with a chant that turned political.
“Rowley must go, Rowley must go,” they shouted.
As they shouted some dug their heels in and said they were not moving if the police came forward.
Officers were then seen placing masks on their faces covering their eyes and mouth.
First fire
Then the first tear-gas canister was fired by an officer to the rear of the frontline. The canister had been fired over the crowd and landed in the Knowsley building compound opposite the Savannah. Then another was fired, landing near the crowd. As it did, people began running in all directions with one water bottle thrown back at the officers who fired another tear-gas canister.
Both Express personnel on the scene were temporarily blinded by the gas which severely burned eyes as the wind blew the gas westwards.
By this time the crowd had dispersed and there were no more groups of people shouting at the police. People now stood by themselves and hurled insults at the officers. Police arrested five people including one man who was almost tased prior to being detained.
Use discretion where necessary
Jacob he said he had a full report about what happened and praised his officers for their professionalism.
“The Guard and Emergency Branch is one of the most professional sections of the Police Service and because of training the commander in charge will evaluate the situation and use discretion when it is necessary,” he said. Jacob said from what he heard the police gave many warnings before they fired tear gas.
“The police followed standard operating procedure yesterday,” he said, He said he understood that while people may have opposing views the reason groups needed permission to protest was to ensure that there were no clashes with other groups.
He continued, “But in this state of the pandemic where we have an average of 23 to 30 people dying a day and our hospitals are so overwhelmed why would any sensible person decide that this is the time to have this and without even applying for permission?”
“Someone is trying undermine the rule of law and they are trying to engender further indiscipline in our society, but we are here to uphold the law and we will do it in a professional manner,” he said.
“We are asking people to desist from that sort of behaviour as it is only doing damage to our country and we know persons will have differences but these differences can be exercised in several different ways instead of gathering,” he said.
