BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – REVELLERS are being admonished to continue in their attempts to make the 2009/2010 Carnival festivities as incident-free as possible.
Speaking with the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Carnival Committee, Clement ‘Monarch’ O’Garro, SKNVibes understands that there were minor incidents during the recently held J’Ouvert session, but they were not enough to seriously mar the celebrations.
Thousands of revellers took to the streets of Basseterre during the early-morning hours of Saturday (Dec. 26) to take part in the long-awaited event. SKNVibes understands that a few incidents took place, one of which resulted in a man sustaining a laceration to his head.
While he could not give any details, O’Garro said that according to his understanding, some persons were taken to the Joseph N. France General Hospital where they received treatment but not hospitalised.
A communiqué issued by the Police Force Press and Public Relations Office yesterday afternoon (Dec. 28), confirms that there was a relatively incident-free J’Ouvert celebration.
“The Commissioner of Police Mr. Austin Williams has expressed his thanks to the general public, vendors, band leader and Disc Jockeys for their co-operation during the Carnival J’Ouvert celebration on the morning of 26th December, 2009. He noted that beside some minor skirmishes, the revellers were in a festive mood making it easy for the security forces to operate and no major incident was reported. He added that vendors contributed significantly by selling beverages in plastic cups.
“He also commended the security forces highly for their active performance in preventing breaches of the peace. He also stated that while it was worthy of note to mention the success at J’Ouvert, he was very aware that we are only one third the way of the major street activities, noting that the Grand New Year’s Day Parade and the Last Lap celebrations are still to come and he is once again seeking the co-operation of the all stakeholders.”
O’Garro implored revellers to continue to contribute to the success of the remaining activities, especially the Grand Parade scheduled for January 1, 2010, the Children’s Parade to be held on December 31 and the Last Lap jam slated for January 2, 2010.
“We’ve had a very successful Carnival so far…My note of caution to the public is that they need to ensure that they are following what the marshals are having them do. They are dressed in bright orange shirts with a big LIME sign on it. Once they follow what the marshals are telling them, then we won’t have the security forces getting involved. But we will have the presence of the security forces and we want them [revellers] to make sure that they are following the orders of the security forces. That way, we will have no major incidences…
“What we want patrons to do is to follow the instructions not only of the marshals but also members of the security forces who are there to protect.
