City councilor Mark King was arrested last night. Senior Superintendent Chester Williams charged him for insulting words. And while King is one thing, as we reported last night, PUP talk show host Vaughan Gill made a police report stating that the Mayor attacked him. That’s when word went out that police were looking to go after UDP Mayor Zenaida Moya. The launched the UDP party machinery into action and 7NEWS was at the Eastern Division Police Station to see how it unfolded.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
UDP councilors and inner circle types stood outside the Eastern Division Station last night as Councilor Mark King was inside. He had been arrested and taken to the Queen’s Street Police Station. Senior Superintendent Chester Williams charged him for insulting words. Party leader Dean Barrow went to the station to check on things.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“Mark King is also inside. He has been charged by Chester Williams for using indecent language. He will be given station bail so he will be leaving momentarily.”
Barrow was also there for Mayor Zenaida Moya who went to make a counter-complaint against PUP media personality Vaughan Gill. Gill had already made a complaint against her for assaulting him.
Zenaida Moya,
“I pretty much came here to press charges against Vaughan Gill. I mean the man came at me with a video camera, with a very long lens. And Jules it wasn’t you, it wasn’t Keith Swift, it wasn’t a camera person that I know from any of the local media stations. So when I saw him coming at me with this camera, of course I became very fearful that this man was here to assault me.”
Vaughan Gill,
“Well Jules I wouldn’t want to get into a back and forth with the mayor. I believe that we need to have a look at the tape. What she didn’t know is that when I came around, I was shooting. As I came around the corner I was shooting into a crowd where Winston Smiling and some people were arguing and so the camera was rolling and out of the corner of my eye I saw somebody lunging at me from I would say about six to eight feet away and I was shocked when I realized it was the Mayor and at first I said she was coming to speak to me but it was a hit on the camera and that was it.”
Jules Vasquez,
She said that she perceived that it was a non-traditional media person coming up to her in terms of you have never come up to her to interview her before so she assumed that you were coming from a position of hostility.
Vaughan Gill,
“I don’t understand that at all. Like I said, there is no need for me to explain myself, it is all caught on tape.”
Jules Vasquez,
Are you concerned that the PUP will make ads out of this, propaganda out of this and that you will be living with it for weeks?
Zenaida Moya,
“No. I have no problem whether or not they go ahead and they make any ad out of it because pretty much what we will be reminded over and over when they run that ad, if they are going to make an ad, that people will see over and over that here is our duly elected mayor doing her job and there is a known PUP going up to the Mayor trying to assault her.”
Jules Vasquez,
In the hurly burly of the everyday media, we get assaulted. People knock our camera, police from time to time knock our camera and they arrest us and I know Channel 5 had one time Guinness Stout poured on their camera, these things happen. Why did you make a complaint? This is the media.
Vaughan Gill,
“Jules I believe there is a trend happening with the UDP and their supporters and it's very disturbing now.”
That was at the end of what had been a long and testy day that played out at one of the busiest intersections in the city. And when Moya finished at nearly 10 o’clock, she had assort of sidewalk caucus with her councillors and supporters who had waited for her. But the UDP’s municipal and national leaders said they had no regrets.
Jules Vasquez,
Do you regret going out there or you feel you did the right thing?
Zenaida Moya,
“I don’t regret going out there. It is my job to ensure that the Belize City Council Act is adhered to.”
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“The Mayor is completely right in that the PUP is disrespectful. It is an outlaw party and that is outlaw behavior. The City Council Act as well as I believe regulations under that made by the PUP City Council require that permission be obtained from the City Council before banners and signs can be put up. The PUP got no permission and did this in absolute violation of the law and the Mayor was perfectly correct in insisting that the sign be removed.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you regret all of this in terms of, do you feel the UDP was baited? Should a municipal leader be out there in such a, I mean it’s an administrative matter, a sign?
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“No, no that’s not an administrative matter. It is a matter of the mayor’s determination to uphold the law in a climate in which the PUP insists on behaving like an outlaw party. No, I am proud of the Mayor.”
And while that story was like a post game show, later on we’ll take you back to the corner of St. Thomas Street and Freetown Road for highlights of what happened yesterday.
