And during the negotiation, additional police officers were deployed in the north to maintain order - including a riot squad which was kept "far from the madding crowd".
Despite the burning tires and road blocks, unlike 2009's sugar standoff, there were no fatalities and no reported injuries. Today the Minister of Police said that that's no coincidence, and it is due to a different style of policing.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Absolutely phenomenal in my opinion Courtney and I think we even got the respect and appreciation of the farmers in particular the BSCFA in the way that police officers handled the situation out there."
"It is no coincidence Courtney, again one of the hallmarks of coming into office has been for us the reduction in the number of complaints against police officers, rogue police officers, abusive police officers."
"You can see a stark difference between 2023 and 2019 in terms of the number of reports against police officers and that comes down to the very no tolerance approach that we have taken since 2020 and again that was reflected out there."
"We did not have any major road blockages. I think there were some instances but again the police were able to peacefully, quietly, amicably have the protesters come off of the highway and I think they handled extremely professionally and I want to congratulate them for that."
"It is a huge difference in the style and the approach. I certainly want to commend the commissioner of police. He has certainly been on board with me whenever we say we cannot be exercising that kind of force."
"We have to exercise the greatest possible restraint in any situation and I think moving forward so long as there is that understanding because that is what it comes down to being able to communicate with the protesters, the police officers having a full handle of the situation and so long as you can accomplish that then it should never reach to the point where you have that type of violence, where rubber bullets were used in that situation and individuals were harmed."
"So again it does take a lot of communication from both sides, both sides so patience, understanding and communication."
