Protestors Picket PM's Home

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Politics

Sunday, 20 May 2012 02:30

By Alex Holder

Antigua St John's - A group of "lone-wolf" protesters mounted a surprised picket on the public road outside the private residence of prime minister Baldwin Spencer on Saturday morning demanding that he engage them about statements labelling them “mercenaries” and “criminals”.

Led by Vere Bird III a practicing attorney, the picketers also demanded answers about the controversial Wadadli Power Plant engines which they have protested the Chinese Embassy about for weeks.

The five protesters almost landed themselves in police custody after a team of armed Special Squad police officers responded about 15 minutes after the chanting began.

The officers demanded that the group move 100 feet away from the home of the nation’s leader, who was inside at the time.

But Bird challenged the lawmen with his own understanding of the legislation governing picketing and freedoms, forcing the officers to back down and summon reinforcements. Another three officers arrived minutes later, and they too were noticeably armed.

“I don't need permission from the police to stage a picket," Bird said. "It is not a meeting and it’s not a march. A picket is the most effective way to protest. The Labour Party and the others always get caught up in these marches, but we don't believe in that. We don't need to ask anybody to exercise our freedoms."

He added, "This is the only free form of protest in Antigua and Barbuda. All the others are a horse and pony show for politicians."

The taunting outside the PM’s home went on for several minutes and included chants of “Dr Dr”... “Baldwin come out to play," ... “Get out from under the bed and face us”... “We want to know who are the mercenaries and criminals?”



Shortly after the officers arrived, the prime minister’s escort showed up, and surrounded by six armed law enforcement personnel and his driver, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer dressed in a yellow shirt (see photo above) made his way to a waiting vehicle.

Responding to the gathering, the PM said he had to head off to a meeting and could not facilitate them.

“He didn’t have to go to any meeting," Bird said. "He could have given us five minutes and responded to our questions about who the mercenaries and criminals are that he was referring to. Because my group are law-abiding individuals, and when you are going to say something like that, we are going to have to bring it to you.

"Otherwise to that, we want to know about those leaky generators that have no value. It is junk and we are not accepting that from him, David Shoul, or the UPP government in Antigua and Barbuda.”

Residents of the area told Caribarena that the prime minister routinely leaves his home at 9 am and heads to his constituency office, and some said they were pleased that he opted not to break that routine to respond to what was clearly an offensive tactic.

Bird said the police presence was expected in a way that would “defend our constitutional rights,” not in a way that would look to evict them from the public streets.



Again separating himself from the Antigua Labour Party (ALP), Bird said the opposition members continue to sit back and “suck their thumbs,” while for him “those days are in the past. I am not playing those games.”

He said if the ALP continues to sit idly by, it would undoubtedly lose the next general elections.

“We don't have any leadership. We lead ourselves. We take things into our own hands. We are not waiting on Lester Bird and the rest of them," he said.

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