In a media release dated 23 May 2024 Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine [CAAP] -an organisation in the forefront of protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Palestine -describe how police hindered a planned demonstration calling for diplomatic relations with Israel to be suspended.
According to the release a request for Police Permission under [section 10 of the Public Order Act, Cap. 168 A] had been requested – initially on 10th and in an amended correspondence on 13th May 2024 – to hold a “Rally Against Zionist Genocide”, on the pavement in front of the building which houses the diplomatic mission of the Israeli state in Harbour Road, in the Parish of Saint Michael.
Having waited for a response for two weeks – and a day before the planned action – a CAAP representative was told at a meeting convened by the Police Commissioner’s Office, that the application was denied on grounds that the action would pose a challenge to traffic, and that the location had been designated as a “Red Zone” in advance of the Cricket World Cup starting on the 2nd June 2024 in Barbados.
A representative of CAAP stated that an option – made a day in advance of the proposed action – to change the location was not feasible; and that it was precisely the Israeli Honorary Consul’s Office that was the object of the exercise. Police objections regarding traffic and other non-specific grounds were also refuted given the organisation’s willingness to reduce the numbers participating to twelve stationary persons with placards, in an area acknowledged to have wide pavements and grass verges.
The release reported that CAAP never requested a march, and pointed out that the previous week on Saturday 18th May 2024 an anti-Cyber Crime Bill march was allowed in the same general area.
As the world watches the onslaught against the Palestinian people and actions to show solidarity with them continue throughout the world, not least in the Caribbean -including several such actions in Barbados – Lalu Hanuman of CAAP said: “It is important that the Constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and speech are upheld. Unless we allow peaceful protest, then other avenues might be resorted to by individuals”.
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