Minister of Helps Undaunted

Details

Latest

Friday, 11 May 2012 02:30

By Colin Sampson

Antigua St John's - Eugene Humphreys, self-styled “Minister of Helps,” wants to know why there was no uniformed police escort for his protest march scheduled for last Thursday.

Humphreys called off the planned protest action at 5:20 pm after the no-show. The demonstration was scheduled to start at 4:30 pm. No explanation has been provided so far.
 
Now, by letter dated Wednesday May 9, Humphreys has formally asked Minister of National Security Dr Errol Cort to take a personal hand in solving the case of the missing police detail. The Minister of Helps is awaiting the results of his request.
 
The “Minister of Helps” outlined his appeal to Dr Cort on Thursday, during an in-studio appearance on the Colin Sampson Show. Viewers are invited to visit the CARIBARENA.COM video archive to hear excerpts from the conversation.


 
Humphreys has staged many protest marches over the years, and is perhaps best known as leader of the “Serial Marchers,” a group of political activists that has regularly demonstrated against perceived social ills under successive Antigua Labour Party and United Progressive Party administrations.
 
The veteran protestor told Caribarena.com that on all previous occasions when he has led public demonstrations, a uniformed police escort was on hand to control traffic and maintain public order. Humphreys testified that on several occasions, police officers had advised him that marchers could not step off unless the required uniformed escort appeared.
 
The “Minister of Helps” is therefore somewhat mystified by reports that have been surfacing to the effect that in actual fact, no uniformed police escort is required for public demonstrations. This, he said, flies in the face of past experience, which indicates quite the opposite.
 
Humphreys noted that Commissioner of Police Vere Browne had on three successive occasions refused his application to stage a protest demonstration through the streets of St John's. This action was taken, said Commissioner Browne, in response to a “death threat” made against the political activist.
 
The longtime protest marcher expressed the view that the non-appearance by the police detail might have been an alternative method of making sure that the planned protest did not take place.
 

However, under the circumstances, Humphreys deemed himself well advised in his decision to call off the protest action. He opined that to have gone ahead with what might have been considered an unauthorized demonstration could very well have resulted in him and others being charged with violations of the Public Order Act.
 
It was better, Humphreys felt, to err on the side of discretion rather than to be maneuvered into a position where the demonstrators could have inadvertently found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
 
The presence of plainclothes officers did not, in Humphreys’ view, fulfill the requirement that there be a visible uniformed police presence accompanying political demonstrations. The lead serial marcher noted that in the past, uniformed officers had been present in addition to the less obtrusive plainclothes police.
 
The political activist is determined to press on with his programme of public protest aimed at inducing the UPP government to hold a credible inquiry into the “Fences Issue”. In the meantime, he is urging the minister of National Security to hold his own inquiry into last Thursday’s delinquency by the police department.
 
“Helps” is hoping that at the very least, Dr Cort will ensure that the commissioner of police issues a comprehensive and definitive statement of policy relating to uniformed police presence at public meetings and demonstrations.

• < Prev
• Next >