Police deny pro-Palestinian group’s march request

The Barbados Police Service has denied a request by a pro-Palestine grouping to stage a peaceful demonstration outside the Israeli Consul office on Harbour Road on Friday, citing security concerns.

In a related development, lawyer Lalu Hanuman, secretary to the Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine, said he is considering taking the Commissioner of Police to court for making people pay once an application is approved to hold a public march or picket.

In a letter, commissioner Richard Boyce informed Hanuman on Thursday that CAAP could not stage the picket in Harbour Road because it would pose a security risk in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the nearby Kensington Oval.

“The environs is designated as a security area for The Barbados Police Service planning and execution team for the ICC T20 Men’s Cricket tournament, hence, activity will pose a security risk,” the police chief wrote.

“The area which you requested to hold the march is heavily trafficked by motor vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and will pose a security risk if granted.”

Boyce also told Hanuman that holding a march would cause congestion and inconvenience to people using that area.

The commissioner reminded the attorney that he had been allowed to relocate to an alternate area which would eliminate the “hindrances” but he declined the offer.

“In the circumstances, your request is denied. Be guided accordingly,” Boyce advised.

In response, Hanuman said the police told him permission was denied because, among other things, the area is designated a Red Zone.

Hanuman told Barbados TODAY: “They said because of the World Cup, it is designated as a Red Zone, and also they are saying because of traffic and pedestrian flow through the area, it’s not a feasible location. But I pointed out to them that we are willing to have only 12 stationary pickets with placards, and the area there by the corner by Oran Limited on Harbour Road, has a very wide pavement and a huge grass space. So, if we had only 12 pickets, it would be no problem for anybody.

“But that was rejected by the police. They are saying there is to be no demonstration in the area. But last Saturday, anti-Cybercrime Bill marchers, marched through the area by Kensington Oval. So, I failed to see how they can march adjacent to Kensington Oval, and we can’t hold a stationary picket at least 600 to 700 yards away from Kensington Oval. It doesn’t seem to add up to me to be a fair decision.”

The lawyer-activist denounced the police decision as a breach of constitutional rights of freedom of speech and assembly.

He said while the police suggested that the group use another venue, Hanuman explained that one was not identified.

“However, this is the day before the actual event,” he said. “We had applied to the police since May 10. That’s two weeks ago, and it’s only today that they scheduled a meeting to discuss it and they are telling us we could have a different location. It’s obviously too late at this stage to do so. So, we declined that offer.”

The march was to call on Barbados to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel over its war in Gaza while accusing Israel of committing genocide.

Hanuman is also taking umbrage with the Police Service over what he said is its decision to charge people hundreds of dollars once their applications have been approved to stage demonstrations.

The attorney has given notice of plans to take legal action against the commissioner, saying that charging a fee for freedom of speech and assembly is unconstitutional.

“The police are actually charging now for people to hold demonstrations,” he told Barbados TODAY. “It is not small sums of money. You are talking approximately $1 000 to demonstrate, to hold a picket. That’s a breach of our constitutional rights because you are denying people the opportunity of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly if they have to pay before that happens.

“So, we are contemplating, as far as the payment part is concerned, applying to the court on a breach of our constitutional rights. We are thinking of bringing a constitutional motion to do with a breach of our constitutional rights that we have to pay the police in order to exercise those rights.

“So, it’s about $1 000 each time when we have a demonstration. It’s about $1 000, it varies. We haven’t paid on this occasion. As part of the approval process, you have to pay a sum of money to the police. We haven’t paid for tomorrow because we had not got to that stage yet. Had it been approved, then, of course, they would have given us a figure. But when we had our previous demonstrations, for example outside the British High Commission and outside of the American Embassy, we had to pay on each occasion, hundreds of dollars.”

(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)