'Apologise!' 

President for the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CPMI), David Denny, wants an apology from the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) for how protestors were treated on Saturday.  

The CMPI had organised and was given permission to hold a peaceful protest outside the compound of United States Embassy on Saturday morning, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests occurring across the United States, but the protest action was cut shut when the permit, which had been granted by the RBPF was revoked. According to the police, the permission was rescinded because the numbers attending the protest far exceeded the 10 persons that the organisers were told would be allowed given the COVID-19 directive currently in force. 

But yesterday on call-in programme Down to Brass Tacks, Denny told the listening audience that while they were told they would only be allowed 10 persons and were ready and willing to abide by that, the hope was that they could swap out persons as the time progressed, so as many people as desired, could get involved.

“We said what we would do, we would set up a system where people could be rotated so that 10 persons can start the programme or the protest and then in 10 minutes they could go, another 10 persons could come and then when 10 minutes finished they could go, so as to allow everybody that was there, who were socially distancing themselves from one another, to participate in the protest action,” he said. 

Denny likened their proposal to the alphabet system employed during the initial stages of the COVID-19 lock down to allow people into supermarkets, and believes strongly that it could have worked, had they been allowed to utilise it. 

“The Royal Barbados Police Force through its Southern Division, indicated that they were not accepting that. What they were accepting was that only 10 persons can participate it and the same 10 persons would have to stand up there for the two hours. And we said no to that, and that is what created the confusion between the Royal Barbados Police Force and the protestors outside of the US Embassy,” he indicated. 

With that in mind, Denny contended that to be able to protest and voice one’s opinion is a God given right and the CMPI followed the rules and regulations by applying for a permit. He charged that the decision to stop the protest painted a bad picture of the country internationally and the Force should apologise so the world knows that they respect humanity and human rights. 

“To take away that God given right from us is something totally wrong and the Royal Barbados Police Force should apologise to the people of Barbados for carrying out such actions,” he maintained.