In studio with us to discuss the events of the day is News Director Jules Vasquez. Jules, a day of violent unrest in the capital today as the members of the House of Representatives gathered to debate the budget, tell us what happened and why.
Jules Vasquez, 7NEWS Director
Well Indira, the situation is that crowds from the UDP, PUP and eight trade unions converged on the capital today. Going into this, everyone knew that the situation would be volatile, and clearly the police were prepared. First, we have put together an edit of the events that transpired between 8:00 am and 1:00 pm.
The day started out calmly with PUP supporters queuing up to get into the House so that they could occupy all the seats early, this is part of their strategy. Slowly the UDP crowd starts to trickle in and over on the next side the PUP started to gather for a rally of sorts.
The PUP had about 200 flags and at this point a bigger crowd around that time, about 9:45 the Prime Minister came over to give them a rally speech.
Said Musa, Prime Minister
"PUP!"
[Crowd shouting 'All the Way!']
Said Musa,
"Today is a historic day. My friends whenever there is change there is controversies. But the PUP is the party of change for the better. Change for progress, change to create a better life for the poor people in this country. What we are saying today is that those that have more must contribute more. We must remain united. Unity is strength. Once there is the unity of the people, there is no force on earth that can stand the force of the people."
He finished that stump speech/pep rally by restating his mandate and said that the PUP is gearing up for a massive convention.
Now back over to the UDP side whet the Garifuna drummers that now lead every protest were leading a crowd that was growing.
At this same time about 9:30 the unions started filing in. Here we have George Frazer, Rene Gomez, and Anthony Fuentes leading a crowd from the Belmopan Civic Center. They were leading a massive crowd clearly close to a thousand hoisting their home made signs. Now you have to understand the configuration as these people were placed right next to the UDP so there is one block of resistance there: the unions singing spirituals on one side and the UDP playing drums on the other. The unions were very storing but later they would be totally outdone by the UDP in terms of militancy.
Now this at 9:55 we have the unions there the UDP there and the Prime Minister and the government side walking across we imagine very pumped up form his address to supporters.
Now that's when the crowd gets really stirred up. They are restrained 100 feet away and that's when they just explode beginning with 'Yellowman.'
Here is the shot of that from another angle is the same time we see 'Yellowman push past the barriers and police recruits, the first line of resistance are trying to contain the line. Now at this point I was manning the camera and ran to the next side where we see the UDP crowd tugging at the chain and these are actually like riot cam shots what it is like to be in the crowd
And we see the crowd getting aggressive. We have Jeffries calling for me to get out of the way and a mighty struggle for the chain with the recruits trying to hold the chain.
At this point we have a shot from another angle up on the top of the stairs of police battling with riot squads on the ready. Here we see them basically bum rushing the line, openly confronting the police. 'Yellow Man' cant be contained and the guy beside him, gets struck and Mr. Jeffries pulls him out of the line. The guy comes back and kicks him he's gotten emotional, as can happen.
Throughout the morning and become more audacious as they face off with the police. Now we have out other angle as we see them challenging the line and Jeffries going back facing down the line. They are trying to strike Jeffries, he's challenging them across the line.
Jeffries gives the order for the recruits to retreat and the squad to take the front line.
With the riot squad on the read, the crowd then retreats but starts casting stones. Again we have a youth daring and taunting the police talking to them. The police are showing extreme restraint.
Now there is a guy that got hit earlier, calling on the crowd for greater militance, challenging them. And then we se this same guy brushing the flag across the face of the riot squad.
Here at 10:02 we have Mike Peyrefitte, UDP political officer for Freetown speaking on the issue.
Mike Peyrefitte,
"Its unfair that you have people in front here who can't get in to the House, or up to the lobby before the House, and you have people who are being allowed by the police on top of the platform to go in the House or around the House. If they can be there, we can be there. Why are you denying so many people to get into the House or to get as close to their representative as possible but then you are allowing other people to just walk in. You are allowing other people, who are only PUP people, to walk in and go in. Why aren't these tactical forces blocking other parts of the entries to the House."
Keith Swift,
Why did you guys have to get violent? You said you would not...
Mike Peyrefitte,
"No don't come with that. Don't come with any violence. The only violence that happened here today was when a police officer hit one of our people in the head with a piece of stick. Other than that no violence occurred."
Keith Swift,
Do you condone the stoning of the police officers?
Mike Peyrefitte,
"No I don't condone the stoning of the police officers. But what I am saying is this: when you frustrate people to a certain point, when you deny people access to the House of Representatives when other chosen people are given free access, then how do you expect to us to react. We have to be frustrated. We have to be angry. We are (to be) allowed access to the House. What we are doing out here today is nothing compared to what Said Musa, Ralph Fonseca, and the rest of thieves in Cabinet have done. So what we are doing out here today is nothing compared to that. You can never compare what we are doing today."
Keith Swift,
How do you plan calming down these people because right now the situation is very volatile?
Mike Peyrefitte,
"We are already calm."
Jules Vasquez,
But they were not at all calm as later events would prove. The next scene we have shows Jeffries responding:
Sr. Supt. Crispin Jeffries,
"Throw some more, I don't mind being injured. We don't want to have to injure any of you. Enjoy the party. We don't want to injure any of you. We don't want to injure any of you; it would be so easy. Step back and behave yourselves."
Jules Vasquez,
Jeffries' proclamation only served to incense the crowd, and that would be a trend throughout the day. They started pulling the chain again and at this point the House sitting had to be suspended because of the chaos outside. The PUP also sent its supporters away from where they had gathered. Happily, they acted very responsibly and got them out from what could have been a contentious situation.
Now back in the crowd the stoning continued using pieces of the assembly stairs, basically that had been left behind from constructing the barriers. The police are instructed by Jeffries to pickup the rocks.
Then we have Joel Wade, a teacher at Wesley, going up to the police asking them to please arrest him. He was begging them and again the officers showed restraint and in the end they refused to arrest him sending him back into the crowd.
Now at this time for at time we had 30 minutes of calm without constant throwing of rocks. Now we cut to when riot re-enforcements roll in the keep the line and this is what really caused the escalation.
The crowd advanced beyond the line throwing massive pieces of stone. We see the tear gas knapsack and the riot squad taking heavy stoning at very close range.
And then Jeffries runs into the crowd at top speed with pepper spray. He falls and he is then kicked.
We have this confrontation now from another angle. We have from the other side, the same things, the riot squad advancing and we see one protestor with an entire slab of the National Assembly stairs. The mob is coming closer and just pelting them unreltingly.
Again the riot squad advanced the line and they launched the first tear gas.
And here again we see the tear gas explode and with that the crowd disperses. And the riot squad then assumes a position low down on the stairs with, as you can see, the crowd control shotgun on the ready.
Our cameras also caught one of the protestors who the police got a hold of and they were brutalizing him on the ground. While all this was going on, the riot squad maintained the line and the crowd remained dispersed still reeling after the tear gas. The tear gas also affected the unions and Mark Butler from the Energy Workers Union spoke to us about it.
Mark Butler, BEWU President
"It was so surprising to see Mr. Jeffries. As a senior man in this police force he personally went and sprayed that tear gas. He was the first one. It is very obvious that he doesn't have any command over his people because me personally as the head of my union if I need to do anything I call on my people; I don't need to be at the forefront. I believe it was wrong for him to do something like that. He should have had his riot squad doing those type of things. That's very disrespectful for him as a senior man to do the first thing like that. He should have got orders carried out. Its very obvious that not even his own officers are respecting him."
Anthony Fuentes, BNTU President
"The teachers and the public officers came out here to demonstrate peacefully today, peacefully and at the end of the day tear gas was sprayed upon our public officers and teachers. It's unfair because we came out here to demonstrate peacefully. We do not appreciate what the Police Department has done to our people. It is wrong and we will condemn it. We will condemn it every minute of the way because our teachers came out here to demonstrate peacefully. It is unfair what the Police Department is doing."
[Interview interrupted by exchange between Mark Butler, BEWU President and Vaughn Gill from the Government Press Office.]
Vaughn Gill,
"As a leader you should fight for the rights of your people and work. You shouldn't come out here and fight for the UDP."
Mark Butler,
"We are not throwing any rocks."
"First of all I feel very disappointed because if you notice the way how we are set up they kind of put our life at danger because they put the UDP alongside the unions while the PUP are way on the other side. So they put us next to the Opposition so we are in more danger and it should not be that way."
George Frazer,
"It is an indication that government the get di sense and they better listen to the people. We gave them some very realistic and achievable recommendations. We insist there must be reform. We got to clean up the system. We got to clean those out who are part of the abuse and they got to respect the rights of our Belizean people. Increased taxes can only bring hardship on our people. We will review and we are prepared to enter dialogue with government."
Jules Vasquez,
He is not relenting. He is just saying after 6 months he will check the engine.
Paul Perriot, BCWU President
"We are not with that Jules. We can't agree with that none at all. The man can go to Montevideo and take out that 56 that he needs right now because it sounds like he needs some money immediately so maybe the Montevideo and the Panama Banks can give him some of the money he needs, interest free."
Jules Vasquez,
You all have shutdown the country for two days and going into the weekend. But what can you do after this? The government will govern, Said Musa has made it clear his government has a mandate he believes and it will govern. How will you continue from here?
Paul Perriot,
"Jules we will continue shutting down until the man get the sense. We have our plans you know. We will let you know about as it comes. But until the man gets the sense we will stop shut down."
Jules Vasquez,
You shall not be moved?
Paul Perriot,
"We shall not be moved."
Jules Vasquez,
Do you think the Prime Minister have any cognizance of the fact that this is not partisan, this is not politics as usual?
Paul Perriot,
"I think the man is playing on the party politics side of it but he knows that this is a workers' issue. He knows it deep down because he hasn't mentioned anything about the workers in it, he has mentioned UDP."
Jules Vasquez,
Are you being manipulated by the politicians?
Paul Perriot,
"We don't have any thing to do with PUP and UDP, nothing at all. This is workers. This is our money in our pockets, taxes. We are not agreeing with it, bottom line."
Dylan Reneau, PSU President
"No new taxes. No increases in taxes. The people have spoken Mr. Musa."
Jules Vasquez,
But the government must govern.
Dylan Reneau,
"Government based on what? The people are telling them to do it."
Jules Vasquez,
He has a popular mandate, they won a massive election victory.
Dylan Reneau,
"Jules you and I know there was a lot of talking about being paid to vote a certain way and all of that. We are questioning even that now. Democracy can be manipulated."
Jules Vasquez,
So you are not at all moved by this recommendation by the Prime Minister to look at it, let's work together, and after 6 months if things improve and if the taxes are working we will...
Dylan Reneau,
"What about the fiscal incentives? What about the people who are not paying taxes? Let's get to them first then we can dialogue. We want serious dialogue not a one sided consultation."
Jules Vasquez,
Dylan you all have virtually shut down the country for the past two days, how do you kick it from here? How do you escalate it from here?
Dylan Reneau,
"Jules that is the question that this government has to keep in the back of their mind. It can go even further. As a union, as respectable unions, we don't want to get it to that point. We are just making a point that need serious dialogue and we are not in agreement with those taxes. And if they don't want to talk to us then this will be kept up and kept up."
Rene Gomez,
"After six months no we aren't taking that. We want it now and if not we will continue our protest. We are demanding that he comes out of the House and talk to the people."
Mark Butler,
"The only way we will accept it is if he does what we say starting from now. We are not talking about no press releasing stating 6 months down the road. We want reform now. We don't want new taxes until reform and we are staying on the basis."
Jules Vasquez,
After we did those interviews, Jeffries then moved Butler back telling him he cannot go into the House because he is not a member. And while that was happening on the hill, down at the bottom the UDP crowd led by Ramon Witz had re-assembled at the line around the riot squad.
Then the crowd came upon a 12 gauge shell, from pladetic pellets not live rounds. It is not designed to kill only to repel. And while that's the story on one side on the other, you can see the accumulated bricks and debris that were thrown on the stairs. Down at the bottom of the stairs had been completely destroyed.
Now the police again chanted as they moved forward. And again whenever the riot squad advances, the heavy rocks start flying. During all this a BDF Defender flew over. We then see them trying to calm down 'Yellow Man.'
A significant occurrence at this time is that the line moved across and 'Yellow Man' used the opportunity to slip in and is taken off by police while the largest projectiles are coming in hard and heavy. At this time the police are taking heavy hits and retreating, all of this with National Assembly stairs being torn to pieces.
Meanwhile Juliet Thimbrel tried to urge restraint. After this there was a lull for about an hour.
And then the Dean Barrow, the Leader of the Opposition, after he finished his entry in the debate went down to speak to the crowd and is told 'Yellow Man' has been arrested. He gave us his comments.
Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader
"Obviously that will only inflame things further so I am going to try and talk to Mr. Zetina to see if something can be done about that."
Jules Vasquez,
They are saying 'Yellow Man' broke the law.
Dean Barrow,
"I don't know. I was inside. But what I am saying is surely even if they want to prefer charges they can do that quickly and release the man in order not to inflame tensions further. I don't know what he did do or didn't do, I was inside. But it seems to me in a situation like this the Commissioner needs to exercise good judgment. If he says he is making a point then charge the man quickly. That can't take more than an hour or so and release the man so that we could get people hopefully to cool down."
Jules Vasquez,
Dean what do you make of the unrest that's been out here today? There's been a lot of very contentious encounters.
Dean Barrow,
"It speaks for itself. Clearly nobody wants this but it speaks for itself."
Jules Vasquez,
But do you associate yourself with it? Clearly some might have the perception that you are advocating violence.
Dean Barrow,
"I don't care what anybody says, the People's United Party, in view of the expressions of protest from every sector of this society, ran some extremely provocative ads, brought people up to the National Assembly as though they were spoiling for a fight, and doing everything possible to provoke a confrontation."
Jules Vasquez,
After that the Leader of the Opposition went to the Commissioner of Police's where they would go visit 'Yellow Man' and other UDP detainees at the Police Training School. But the UDP supporters then moved over to the police station where they held an impromptu rally to demand 'Yellow Man's' release, of course not realizing he was not there.
Shortly after that Barrow visited Brian "Yellow-Man" Lord and other detainees from the demonstration in a holding area at the police training school. He returned satisfied that they would be charged and released.
Dean Barrow,
"The Commissioner has agreed to process him by 2 pm and to give him bail. I have to commend him. I think he is acting with commendable restraint. I was able to speak to him and work things out. It is clear to me that he wants to be cooperative, like everybody else, and to avoid anything further from taking place this afternoon."
Alfonso Noble,
Is he being singled out?
Dean Barrow,
"Well he is clearly not the only one there. I didn't actually do a count but there are perhaps 7 or 8 persons there that the Commissioner has agreed to process and release. 'Yellow Man' will be dealt first because clearly the dynamics of the situation are such that I think its easier if he is released immediately or as soon as possible. But the Commissioner has given me an assurance that every person who is there will be processed and given bail."
Keith Swift,
What is your evaluation of the police's performance in handling the crowd?
Dean Barrow,
"I did not see everything. From what I saw it appeared to me that they were acting with commendable restraint. But I say this on the basis of the sorts of snapshots that I got. But it did appear to me that they acted with commendable restraint. Insofar as what I saw is concerned, they are to be commended."
Keith Swift,
Mr. Commissioner why was Yellow Man arrested?
Jose Carmen Zetina, Commissioner of Police
"He was arrested because he committed an offense."
Keith Swift,
What offense has he committed that a lot of other people out here haven't?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
"Well I think if you clearly look at your video you can clearly see what offenses have been committed."
Keith Swift,
There were also a lot of people doing likewise.
Jose Zetina,
"Well we are not trying to differentiate anybody. Everyone that was seen throwing stones will be prosecuted."
Jules Vasquez,
So Indira that leaves it at about 2:00 pm. After that the UDP protestors, without 'Yellow Man, continued to rage against the police. There was a major flare up again at 4:00 pm when the UDP, ostensibly led by standard-bearer for Freetown Michael Peyrefitte on the megaphone. The crowd clashed with the advancing riot squad as heavy projectiles were again hurled at the police and they released what appeared to be teargas, which we were later told were simply decoys.
That set the stage for the final showdown which would come after that between 4:00 and 5:00 pm when the license to demonstrate had expired but the crowd both UDP supporters and trade unionists refused to move to make the vigor of their protests known. The images captured by Alfonso Noble and Keith Swift show ground commander, Senior Superintendent Crispin Jeffries urging the unionists to move and lobbying with their leaders.
But as they had sung all day, they "would not be moved," and they simply stayed put, many of them sitting and lying down in defiance. With that firm intransigence, Jeffries then read the riot proclamation.
Sr. Superintendent Crispin Jeffries,
"I will read the riot proclamation. Any action to interfere with the security forces will receive immediate response. All persons here assembled are commanded in the Queen's name to disperse peacefully to their homes or their lawful business. Any person failing to obey this command will be dispersed by force. God save the Queen."
After he did this, members of the riot squad donned their gas masks making it clear that they intended to proceed with use of all civil, and uncivil, force to dismiss the crowd. And that's when things took a truly unfortunate but completely predictable turn as one flank of the riot squad moved on the militant opposition supporters, while another non-paramilitary outfitted group moved in on the teachers who were sitting and some of them lying down in defiance.
And while the UDP protestors where just chased off by police wielding clubs, the unionists were dragged away and then variously beaten and shoved by police carrying batons.
With that the crowd was dispersed, and literally chased by police unto busses as the administrative center of Belmopan took on the character of a militarized zone in a state of siege with riot squads sweeping the streets clean of unionists.
