The temperature In Belmopan was almost 100 degrees today, but that didn't stop UDP supporters from marching onto the steps of the National Assembly, placards and flags held high. The opposition promised a protest, but while the showing was more than they had in San Pedro, it still didn't break the 1 thousand threshold - far from it, actually.
But that didn't stop them from spiraling into a sort of controlled chaos, the same kind that led to the National Assembly ruction in 2005. Fortunately, it didn't reach that level, but there was still a lot of action on the ground.
Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.
Not even the blistering sun could stop the UDP protesters today as a crowd of them wrestled with police officers trying to keep barriers in place on the steps of the National Assembly. However, those officers were no match for the strength of those fueled by frustration, as they burst through the barriers.
They didn't make it much further up the steps though, opting to respect the cops' commands to fall back.
But those officers can't say they weren't warned.
Brian "Yellowman" Audinett, Protester
"We will no longer sit down and allow this government to take advantage of us, we are giving the government one hour and we are headed into the National Assembly to send a message to this worthless, corrupt, disgusting People's United Party government."
Courtney Menzies:
"You're threatening to break the barriers?"
Brian "Yellowman" Audinett, Protester
"We will do what we have to do to send a message to the government that the Belizean people are suffering, they are suffering in the land."
Reporter:
"What do you guys want to happen within an hour?"
Brian "Yellowman" Audinett, Protester
"We want within an hour the prime minister do the right thing, the honorable thing and resign, or call the election now!"
Reporter:
"That could send you behind bars."
Brian "Yellowman" Audinett, Protester
"They feed you in jail, out here right now the people can't eat. We are suffering out here."
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"All we are seeking to do is for the message to go to the prime minister of this country, the people of this country are punishing like they've never punished before, and this includes all of you too because you guys understand the high cost of living is not conducive for people to live comfortably so all we're asking the police to do right now is to remove those barriers from here and put them up there further so that when the prime minister and all that bunch of thieves come out of the House of Representatives, we want them to see the people up close and personal because what they are doing to the people of this country is personal."
"We are putting the police on notice, within one hour, we are going to move the barriers from here and we are going to put them up there, we're asking the police to please cooperate with us because we are also out here fighting for the policemen too."
Courtney Menzies:
"Is the party leader endorsing your plans though?"
Alberto August, Vice Chairman, UDP
"The party leader? Miss, we are standing on our own, we are suffering in this country, so don't try to bring the party leader into this."
And while the party leader perhaps didn't approve of breaking the barriers, it was when he descended the steps of the National Assembly and greeted the protesters that the crowd went into a frenzy.
And though he tried to quell the chaos, there wasn't much that he could do.
Courtney Menzies:
"Sir are you endorsing this, what's happening here right now?"
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I was over here, hailing my people. The people are frustrated."
Reporter:
"Sir but will you ask them to stop sir?"
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Police officers have it under control. The people are extremely frustrated. This is what happens when you are not giving the retired BDF people their monies, this is what happens when you have ten of millions of dollars to invest in these shell companies by cronies and you don't have money to pay people their social security benefits."
And the reasons these protesters opted to leave their homes and come out in numbers from across the country in record breaking heat was because of the proposed 20 million dollar Social Security Board loan.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Even with the loan, not even a loan, I don't know if it's a loan, I don't know if it's an investment, I don't know what it is because there's no transparency, there is no information forthcoming as to what this 20 million dollar investment is, no prospectus, we don't know if there's collateral, we don't know anything about the PPP, we don't know the private entities, we know nothing. That is what has people frustrated. People work very hard to get back their money and they contribute to the social security fund so that that money is there when they retire and now people can't get their retirement funds and they see the social security board appointed by the government just giving out these tens of millions of dollars left and right."
Micheal Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"What kind of message? That the PUP need to go. And John Briceno needs to resign. He cannot even run a government, much less run a country."
"They do give us a lot of topics, a lot to talk about, so certainly it's not just SSB but that was another trigger, we have been through this SSB scenario before and just this year back to back they borrowed 6 million and another 12 million and then DFC- no, we're tired of it. We know that a trend will develop here now where they are turning now to the SSB, they will turn again to the DFC because they have not found ways to grow the economy and make sure that the economy is robust enough to generate good taxes to sustain the country. So what they will start to do now, because they know, they are in trouble for 2025, they're just going to try and fleece everything they can now and we have to make them know that we are not with that."
"It's not just SSB, it's SSB, it's cost of living, this government will table another loan motion this morning for 7 million dollars from IDB and that's because when they sent the order papers to us yesterday evening, it was not on it so they are trying to spring another 7 million dollar loan on us, for what reason we don't know. And with that now it's takes us close to and approaching and going beyond 1.1 billion dollars they are borrowing in less than 3 years."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"All of these things are a part of parcel of a failed PUP government and the people have just had enough."
And with that, Barrow went back up to the National Assembly, leaving the chaos in the hands of the cops.
But by midday, things had calmed down, and whether the PUP will heed the words of the protesters is yet to be seen.
By 1pm, most of the protesters had boarded their buses and called it a day.
