No violence allowed at protest – organizer

No violence will be tolerated at Saturday’s march against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations of frontline workers, its organizer has declared.

According to Winston Clarke, a member of the self-styled Barbados Concerned Citizens Group that has organized the morning march from Pelican Village to Independence Square, Thursday’s assault against Vincentian Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves won’t be replicated here.

Clarke told Barbados TODAY that no such incident is likely to happen in Barbados where he suggested there is a completely different culture.

He said: “Our walk is going to be a peaceful walk. We will have people in place to ensure that no disruptive element comes within the fold to cause any problems whatsoever. We will have marshals, we will have security, we have all the infrastructure in place for any eventualities.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Government and the private sector, or the social partners as they call themselves, see the amount of us there are and realize that if we decide that we will boycott and stop buying from them, or stop doing certain things, we can break this economy right down. We are a force to be reckoned.”

Prime Minister Gonsalves, 74, was struck on the head with an object hurled by a protestor when he attempted to enter the House of Assembly in Kingstown. The protest, against changes to the country’s Public Health Act that would require frontline government workers to take the COVID-19 vaccine if they want to stay on the job, was led by the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and two public sector unions.

However, Clarke insisted that “at our walk there will violence whatsoever”. “There will be no disorderly conduct or swearing because, remember, we are primarily a group of religious organizations together, along with grassroots organizations and private enterprises. We will have people who are heads of certain religious sectors who will be at the head of the walk,” he said.

The protest coalition includes a group representing the Rastafarian movement which has declared itself anti-vaccine and the local branch of the US-based Nation of Islam.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb