Protesters bring traffic to a crawl

While the organizers of last Friday’s protest action still have not identified themselves, political activist Luzette King says those who took part are a mixture of supporters of the two main political parties and others who are fedup with some of the policies of the government.

On March 11, an orange clad group of persons, calling themselves ‘We the People’, marched from the Arnos Vale area into Kingstown, {{more}}bringing vehicular traffic to a crawl. Later that day on Bay Street, in the vicinity of the Electoral Office, police and some protesters were involved in shoving matches as the lawmen tried to disperse persons who had blocked the free movement of vehicles.

King, decked in an orange t-shirt, told reporters that the heightened protest action last Friday was because many Vincentians are “very unhappy with what is happening.”

She added, “the Government has no money and all we get is con artistry. You don’t have to be intelligent to be a con artist and we are saying enough is enough.”

King, who was arrested earlier this year while protesting the results of the 2015 General Elections, said on Friday “Vincentians voted for a New Democratic Party government, and that is what we going to have very, very soon whether Ralph Gonsalves likes it or not.”

When asked about the use of the colour orange in the protest, King said that while she wasn’t a part of the decision to wear orange, she was told that the group ‘We the People’ wore that colour because “when you mix red and yellow, you get orange” and according to her, the group was made up of both ULP and NDP supporters who are fed up with the Gonsalves administration.

“I understand that it is not only New Democratic Party (NDP) people that are disgruntled, there are Unity Labour Party (ULP) people who are also disgruntled because Ralph Gonsalves tricked us.

“At first we were hearing that he was going to raise VAT and he said he not raising it, but what he did, he added more items on the VAT list and as a result Vincentians are paying more taxes and as a result the people got together to organize this, both ULP and NDP,” said King.

She said that the protesters calling themselves ‘The Frontline’, who have been stationed outside the Electoral Office since December 10 last year were approached by some people who asked them to join the ‘We the People’ group, and “we joined them.”

Among the protesters last Friday were NDP activists Colin ‘Hitman’ Graham and Laverne ‘Gypsy’ Phillips. Leader of the SVG Green Party Ivan O’Neal also marched with a handful of protesters from Arnos Vale into Kingstown.

Graham, during the early part of the protest was arrested at Arnos Vale and taken to the police headquarters in Kingstown where he was slapped with six traffic related charges.(LC)