BASSETERRE St. Kitts, January 13th, 2014 -- The St.Kitts-Nevis Opposition Coalition known as Team UNITY continued their 13 month long series of protests on Friday afternoon January 10th, with yet another large MARCH through the streets of the Capital City Basseterre.
The large and peaceful demonstration saw hundreds baring various placards that spoke to a number of issues mainly the long 13 month delay in debating a Motion of No Confidence which was filed since December 11th 2012.
The demonstrators carried placards bearing signs stating among others , “Motion of No Confidence NOW”, “Douglas must go”; Unity is strength; “St. Kitts is not a police state”; “Defend your democracy”; Democracy is worth fighting for”; “Family”; “We want justice” and Prosperity for ALL”.
Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris Team UNITY Leader led the large protest march along with other Team UNITY Candidates from the tri-party coalition including Hon. Eugene Hamilton, Former Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Sam Condor, Jonel Powell, Hon. Shawn K. Richards , Lindsay Grant and Ian “Patches” Liburd .
The march culminated with an even larger rally which began with a very well received and inspirational presentation by young Che-Raina Warner one of the Federation’s brightest young leaders and social activist.
Warner was followed by Team UNITY Candidate for Constituency #2 Jonel Powell then Constituency#1 Candidate Ian “Patches” Liburd. In the middle of Liburd’s presentation the entire rally was thrown into total darkness as there was an island-wide blackout. Despite the blackout the well over 1000 persons at the rally remained and sang hymns and chanted refrains like “Douglas must go”. It didn’t take long before the general public began speculating about the cause and timing of the blackout.
Team UNITY Leader Dr. Harris took to the mike in almost pitch black darkness and before some lighting was provided by vehicles the UNITY Movement Leader Dr. Harris spoke to the gathering with a public address system mounted on top of a small car.
Harris expressed his appreciation for the massive show of support in the march and subsequent rally and declared that the power of Unity was clearly on display. Dr. Harris said “"Today we showed them the strength and the power of Unity. Give us this chance to serve you and we will see. It was an excellent afternoon they felt the strength, they felt the vibe of unity. They are frightened by the strength of Unity.”
Dr. Harris further commented on what many are perceiving to be a very suspicious power outage and stated “"I wouldn't put it pass the dictator after seeing the strength of UNITY that the dictator shut down the country."
Over the last two weeks the Opposition Team UNITY has ran into a number of hurdles and obstacles with the staging of their events . Last week their permission to stage a rally in downtown Basseterre was revoked hours before the expected event. On Monday evening elecriticty department personnel failed to install lights at the meeting venue as is the norm at all public meetings and a facility that was paid for by officials of Team UNITY. On Saturday 4th Team UNITY Official and Social Activist Clecton Phillip was arrested and despite being granted immediate bail by the Magistrate was kept in prison over night on a simple misdemeanor charge.
“These hurdles were the result of a dictatorial regime, that is desperately attempting to silence and arrest the opposition leadership and intimidate the expanding membership of Team Unity ,” said Dr. Harris after the night’s events.
Dr. Harris also later said “Dr Douglas and his oppressive regime may turn off the lights on the people of St.Kitts-Nevis but he can't turn off the hopes and dreams of the people of this federation. He can never turn off the will to be free from intimidation and dictatorship. He will never turn off the peoples resolve.”
According to historians the series of Opposition Marches , Demonstrations and Protests which began some 13 months ago is historic as never before in the modern day history of the twin island nation has such a sustained and consistently large show of demonstrated opposition in the form of protest marches, to a sitting government and their governance has taken place.
Since December 2012 there has been at least 5 hugely successful Marches which has drawn an accumulative total of almost 20,000 persons to the streets in protest of the present Dr. Denzil Douglas regime. The marches have been complimented by a number of other protest and demonstration like activities including numerous one and two man demonstrations, prayer walks and vigils and constant expression on the local media by scores of citizens who are unhappy with the Dr. Denzil Douglas administration.
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