And as you heard earlier, things could have easily gotten out of hand during this morning's protest in Cayo.
Early this morning, police caught and detained a few teachers who were allegedly planning to start tyre fires at the entrance to Succotz Village.
This led to their branch members protesting outside the station until they were bailed this afternoon.
Minister Musa stated that while they are allowing the protesting to continue, they cannot turn the other cheek to what he calls obvious criminal activity.
Hon. Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"It is worth bearing in mind when we are going around talking about this industrial action, that there are criminal offences that could possibly take place and so while it is that the police department is taking a relaxed approach to handling the industrial action, we cannot allow anybody to be committing criminal acts. From what I have been informed and I need to get further brief on it, there was some intention to light tyres on fire. Again, that is a criminal offence, as is blocking the major highways and the bridges - that is also an offence, but again we have been taking this hands-off approach, but at the same time we cannot allow this kind of criminal act to take place right under our noses, so if it is that we find members who are in possession of gasoline and tyres, we have to take action in that situation. We cannot just let it be."
Two teachers were later charged with "attempting to set a bonfire without the permission of a police." The Benque branch posted their bail, and they will appear in court tomorrow.
