Senior Reporter
Police officers arrested three people—two men and one woman—after they blocked what was supposed to have been a Peace Walk seeking to end gang violence in east Port-of-Spain yesterday.
Those arrested were said to be two men suspected of being “snatchers” and one woman who is alleged to have behaved in a disorderly manner while police were attempting to get residents to disperse after alerting them to the fact that they did not have permission to conduct the activity. The three were held along Queen Street, near the Duncan Street Plannings.
As the men were carted off, residents, who were at first upset that an officer had pulled his handgun out of the holster while chasing the men, soon congratulated the police for arresting the men, saying they wanted a crime-free community.
Duncan Street resident Kendell Wint said the peace walk, although cut short, is not the end to the desire for peace.
“At the end of the day, I will urge both sides, all the sides that come together to make this possible, leh we keep it. Leh we keep it. Let we show the Government look, we have unity and we have strength.”
The walk was blocked after police said the organiser had no permission to conduct the event.
From Prince Street to Queen Street, police in riot gear and heavily armed police and T&T Regiment members patrolled Piccadilly Street, had earlier been disbursing anyone gathering for the event. Wherever two or three wearing white were gathered, there were police officers instructing them to go home.
One of the organisers, Lynelle Gaskin, said the reason she championed the walk was to put an end to gang violence.
“It have a lot of violence going on and enough is enough, you know, for example, with the kids, right. And it’s a long time they want to have this peace, you know. We just want, you know, like, betterment for the community, you know, togetherness and stuff like that.”
With increased police presence at recent protests, where an anti-police sentiment was also stirred up, Gaskin said she was not trying to antagonise the police. However, she disagreed with the blocking of the activity.
“If it’s something for different communities, you know, to unite, to bring back the love in your community, I find all this shouldn’t be no problem.”
Asked what the next step in fostering peace in the community will be, Gaskin said there will be social media outreach and a possible candlelight vigil. She stressed that this would not be the end of their peace movement in east Port-of-Spain.
Social activist Fuad Khan, who was also present, said the feeling on the ground was that there was too much division and there was a need for togetherness, hence his support of the march. He said the police presence was heavy but not intimidating and felt the situation could have been better managed.
Among those who came out to support the initiative were St Paul Street resident Kashif Sankar, known by his Trinibad sobriquet Kman-6ixx, and soca stars Orlando Octave and Marvin “Swappi” Davis, a Sea Lots resident.
Fellow entertainer Nicholas “Moutty-X” Mouttet said the police ending the march abruptly meant they were promoting violence.
“We came to protest peace in Trinidad and the police is telling us to go from here, go in our car, move from here. We came to protest peace, and they didn’t want us to protest peace. So, which means they want the killings to go on,” he said.
However, head of the Port-of-Spain Division, Snr Supt Raymond Thom, said the police service welcomed the idea of a peaceful East Port-of-Spain but preferred that the organisers not only seek but be granted permission to host the walk, especially during the ongoing State of Emergency.
He said the police were not heavy handed in their presence but had officers on standby not knowing how many marchers were attending, their plans, or the route. He said had the activity been done properly, officers themselves would have joined instead of telling those gathered to go home.
“We, as police officers, welcome the initiative for peace amongst all factions. It is something we are supportive of, however, as I said, there are ways of getting approval to do what yuh want to do,” Thom said.
Thom said rather than having officers available for emergencies and other responses, they were instead taken away from pressing matters and forced to police the undisciplined who said they wanted to embark on a peace walk, symbolising an end to violent lawlessness in East Port-of-Spain.
