BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A public meeting calling for the resignation of Prime Minister of Dominica the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, turned into a clash between supporters of the opposition and riot police in the island’s capital, Roseau.
The incident took place yesterday (Feb. 7) and according to various media reports coming out of the island, fires were lit in the streets as protesters threw bottles and stones at the riot squad and other law enforcement officials.
A public meeting that was organized by several opposition parties, including the United Workers Party, called for Prime Minister Skerrit’s resignation over his handling of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Programme, the recent controversy surrounding the issuance of a particular diplomatic passport and other issues.
According to reports published by Dominicavibes.dm, the Prime Minister and a number of business owners that had their establishments looted last evening took a walk through the area today and were assessing the damage.
In a press statement issued in wake of the unrest, opposition party The United Workers Party [UWP] condemned, “the acts of violence and vandalism that erupted in the streets of Roseau during the evening of February 7th, 2017 causing widespread loss and damage to business enterprises and triggering fears for safety and security in a season of heightened tensions in our practice of civility. We empathize with the owners and employees of the affected business concerns with the hope and prayer of a return to normalcy as soon as possible.”
The press statement by the UWP refutes claims that the two events – the public meeting and the riot - were related and condemns the criticism that were levelled against the party.
“As the events unfolded, the leadership of the United Workers Party was being blamed on the grounds that the disorder resulted from the public meeting in Upper Kennedy Avenue earlier in the day calling for the resignation of Roosevelt Skerrit as Prime Minister. Both events are unrelated. And we condemn these baseless criticisms as forcefully as we condemn the lawlessness visited on the capital city on Tuesday night.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the public meeting ended hours before the violence and vandalism. Those who saw and used the meeting as cover to engineer disorder and destruction to embarrass the UWP or for other reasons know themselves and owe it to a deeply concerned nation to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth… because that is precisely what will set us free,” the statement read.
It continued, “Hypocrisy will not cut it; false accusations will not cut it; dishonest criticisms will not cut it… and the attempts to use this unfortunate turn of events to delegitimize the public call for the resignation of Roosevelt Skerrit as Prime Minister will not cut it either.
“We urge the citizens of Dominica to be calm; we urge the police to be professional in ensuring justice is done in the matters before us; and we urge the leadership of political parties, civil society and law enforcement to meet in an emergency session to agree on a national plan for the restoration and maintenance of peace and order”.
In videos seen by this media house, scores of riot police were seen converging in the streets of Roseau to bring stability to the Caribbean nation.
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