General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI), David Denny.
BARBADIANS are being urged to come out in their numbers, wear black
and have their placards ready on Saturday as they take to the City
streets to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement
currently making waves across the globe.
Permission was granted yesterday by Attorney General Dale Marshall for
the march, which will be held on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.,
beginning at Kensington Oval and ending in Independence Square.
The peaceful protest is being hosted by the Caribbean Movement for
Peace and Integration (CMPI), which up to yesterday was prepared to
take the matter to the courts of Barbados after not receiving a
favourable response from the Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith
nor the Attorney General Dale Marshall to host another protest. Just
last week, a march was held outside of the United States embassy, but
ended prematurely by the Royal Barbados Police Force because numbers
exceeded the limit of ten persons for which permission was granted.
In fact, General Secretary of the CMPI David Denny issued a statement
yesterday morning, stating that a protest would be held today (Friday)
explaining that the CMPI would not have gone outside of the Curfew
Directive as it relates to the type of groups that could gather during
this time.
However by yesterday afternoon, Denny was a happy man. Speaking to the
media on the grounds of the Supreme Court of Barbados, Denny said:
“The Government of Barbados has granted us permission and we are very
happy... We are very thankful that the Attorney General has stepped in
and granted us that permission, so that we can participate in a
peaceful march.
“Our Attorney-at-Law Lalu Hanuman was organising and preparing for us
to take this matter to the courts of Barbados. Because we in the
Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration feel very strongly about
the whole question as it relates to people [in] Barbados being able to
participate in a peaceful demonstration, so that they can express
their true feelings of love for the African family.
“Therefore, we were prepared to take the matter to court, but we don’t
have to go there anymore and we are happy that the Government of
Barbados has come around and we will use this opportunity to say
thanks to the Royal Barbados Police Force for their assistance and
thanks for the Government of Barbados and Attorney General because
this is not only a march for the Caribbean Movement, but it is a march
for Barbadian people to express their true feelings, love and
solidarity with our brothers and sisters in United States of America.”
While there is no limit to the number of persons gathering on
Saturday, social distancing must be adhered to during the march. Denny
noted that the change of location took social distancing precautions
into consideration.
“We also want to encourage Barbadians to wear the black on Friday and
to express their solidarity at their workplace, at the supermarket in
solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the United States of
America.”
Encouraging persons of all races to come out tomorrow, Denny said,
“This is a battle for Barbadian people because this creates a
condition for Barbadian people to have the right to protest. We are
fighting racism, whether it is in the United States of America,
Barbados or any other country.
“We are demonstrating against police brutality and these are things
that happen in every country. So we are standing in solidarity not
only with our brothers and sisters in the United States of America, we
are standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters here in
Barbados, in the Caribbean, in Africa and Asia and Europe.”
At the end of the march, there will be a number of solidarity
speeches, and artistes and community groups are expected to perform in
Independence Square.
Protests across the globe were sparked by the death of George Floyd in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, who died after a police officer knelt on his
neck while he was detained for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. This also
brought into focus other cases of injustice in America including the
shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and Breonna Taylor in
Kentucky, to name a few. (JH)