Permission with conditions for pro-Palestine group protest

A pro-Palestinian group has been granted police permission to hold an anti-Israel protest this weekend, but with a stern warning that the event will be terminated if the organisers breach the conditions.

The event, dubbed the Barbados Picket for Palestine, is set to take place on Saturday at Trevor’s Way and Pelican Village between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., according to the approval letter from Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce.

Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP) initially sought permission to stage the protest outside the office of Scott Oran, the Israeli honorary consul-general, at his firm, Oran Limited, on Harbour View Road but was denied.

In correspondence dated Wednesday, October 2, Commissioner Boyce informed lawyer Lalu Hanuman, CAAP’s secretary and spokesman, that the picket would not be allowed at the requested location and would instead be restricted to the nearby area. Some conditions were also set out for the organisers to follow.

“Persons taking part in the march shall avoid any unnecessary obstruction of the highway and shall at once comply with the lawful directions of any police officer in uniform,” the police chief warned.

The approval also permits the use of amplified music and loudspeakers, but the police have limited the size of placards and banners to no larger than six feet square.

Commissioner Boyce cautioned that any deviation from these conditions would result in the event being terminated.

The protest is being held under the slogan Gaza: One Year of Israel’s Genocide. The organisers charge that more than 40 000 Palestinians have been “murdered” in the conflict which began in the occupied Palestinian territory following the October 7 attack by the militant group Hamas that killed 1 200 Israelis and abducted at least 250 others and held them as hostages. 

(EJ)