COVID-19: Police break up church gathering in Antigua; church leader to be charged

Lawmen in Antigua and Barbuda yesterday dispersed a church gathering in a village called Bolans because there were more than 25 members assembled.

In fact, the Jamaican pastor, Uriah Taylor and a deacon were taken into police custody and could possibly be charged.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne declared a state of emergency and ordered a mandatory curfew which officially took effect Saturday night.

For the next two weeks, the nightly curfew will be in place from 8 pm until 6 am and no more than 25 people can be in any social gathering at any one time, including a church.

Police say when they arrived on the scene were met hostile members who tried to restrict the actions of the authority.

Attorney General, Steadroy Benjamin, said the police were sent to put an end to the illegal service and arrested one of the members who was also charged for the battery of a police officer. He is accused of pushing the officer and preventing him from carrying out his duties.

The attorney general stated that despite the advice given by the established churches last week Sunday, he is appalled that this gathering took place. Benjamin urged Antiguans and Barbudans to adhere to the guidelines set out by the government to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Frankie Thomas, corroborated Benjamin’s account of the events and said that when lawmen arrived at the Bolans New Testament Church of God, they were obstructed during the execution of their duties.

He said the pastor will be charged.

Here’s the video that circulated on social media.

 

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

15 Comments

  1. Annon
    April 1, 2020

    Power to the people. They had the guts to stand up to false authority. No cases of corona virus there. It is really telling that there are so many ignorant people out there who just accept whatever authority parrots without questioning anything. You just figure that they have your best interest at heart. When has government ever had your best interest at heart? Just stay home and hide under your bed until they come to take you away or you starve to death. People are afraid for their lives. I guess all of you are willing to give up freedom just to be alive in jail. Nothing but lies from the controlled media. I guess that most people have no idea of how many people die every day and believe anything that they hear or see on TV……tell -a-vision. mind control. The elite are playing you all for fools and they are masters of psychological conditioning. Wait until they really unleash a bad pathogen on you. Stand up and fight while you still can. This is a distraction for NWO

  2. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    April 1, 2020

    ” in a village called Bolans?”

    Be informed, that the village of Bolands is one of the oldest communities in all of Antigua; it is located North of the capital St. Johns.

    Surrounded by some of best though limited agricultural land on the island, compounded by a few beaches second to none on the island.

    The hotel resort ” Jolly Beach” and another large hotel; nothing in Dominica to compare with them; are located in the village Bolands!

    Blolands is a city comparing to most place in Dominica!

  3. 767h
    March 31, 2020

    shame on this pastor and his congregation for disobeying the law and jeoperdising the health and safety of other. cannot believe you all call yourselves christians with this kind of attitude displayed

  4. Woken Soul
    March 31, 2020

    Jim Jones effect. They would have easily drank the cool-aid. When will Africans wake up. How long before this mind control will end… sighs!

  5. March 30, 2020

    As a Christian, I don’t see the mentality of Christians in that church. There was no sign of the attitude of God’s Holy Spirit.

    The Pastor did what was wrong by disobeying the command of the State, which he is called to obey according to God’s Word.

    Instead of retaliating, causing the Police to act vehemently, what he should have done was to humble ask the congregation to passively leave the Church house–and according to “Steve Forester”, go home and speak their concerns to God about this disturbing crisis. He would hear their call–they don’t need to be in a Church house to do that–especially in a time like this.

    These men are all over the place preaching obedience to God, which in fact is obedience to their Church rules–like giving them 10% percent of their monthly income–claiming that God said that, which I know is not true.

    If they won’t obey the Laws of the State, how can they obey the Spiritual Laws of God, which is much harder?

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      April 1, 2020

      “Instead of retaliating, causing the Police to act vehemently,” (Elizabeth Xavier).

      So, teacher Elizabeth,  Liz, could you point out where in the article it stated the police acted ” vehemently.”

      Don’t use words unless you know the meaning; the word vehemently can be defined as follows:

      “zealous; ardent; impassioned: a vehement defense; vehement enthusiasm.”

      Let me add add ‘ without mercy or compassion.’

    • Annon
      April 1, 2020

      God never said anything. Those of you that go to church on SUN-day are actually worshiping the SUN. Those who go on SATurday are worshiping Saturn or the Moon. A gnostic Greek wrote the Bible at the bequest of King James, thus the King James version. Another version is the Geneva Bible. Do you think that God writes books and then tells certain people to hand them out down here? Wake up.
      The Bible is an asto-theological telling of a story, the story of events foretold by astrology, or the stars.

  6. Ibo Francer
    March 30, 2020

    Religion transforms some people into complete fanatical zealots. They discard their common sense and blindly follow the pastor. Most of them don’t even bother to read the bible for themselves. They rely on the pastors’ every word. The police were duty bound to apply force as they were physically and verbally accosted. The police should never walk on eggshells when dealing with militants. That one action by these religious nuts could have put the whole country at great risk as simple as it seems.

  7. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
    March 30, 2020

    What a bunch of foolish and ignorant people. They are underestimating the power of that virus.
    I reside in Queens New York and have been in confinement for three weeks not being able to go outside for fear of contracting the virus,and it is pure torture but in order for me to live to see another day that is what I have to do.
    People knowledge is power. Educate yourselves, you are not harming the police only yourselves.
    Be safe, be smart and exercise patience by you not practicing social distancing this monster will continue to spread.
    Look at Spain, Italy, the United States and then put your personal interest on hold and ask can my country deal with that amount of death and destruction?
    By you going on and being reckless, you are endangering the people in your household. Stop thinking about self and think about country. When you get this virus you will be in total isolation and may die in isolation because no one want to get sick.
    Come on do the right thing for all of our sake.

  8. March 30, 2020

    AMEN STEVE SAID IT RIGHT

  9. zandoli
    March 30, 2020

    I blame the police for allowing these people to manhandle them. They should have dropped some serious baton on those ….. Jacka….!

  10. 2 wrongs NO Right
    March 30, 2020

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. It was very wrong for the pastor to keep a service yesterday amist that coronavirus. Christianity is about saving lives and not for anyone to show heroism. The pastor should be concerned about the health of his members, neighbors and their country and therefore should not put anyone at risk. But the police also acted foolishly. Going inside the building and making physical contact with angry church members was just as bad as the actions of the pastor. Their was no need to show horoism. If they really wanted to arrest the pastor they could have done so after service or even at his home. To go in the church and have angry members shouting and letting out body fluids is more than enough to speed the virus and put their own families at risk.

    • Shaka zulu
      March 30, 2020

      You are so right. The police should not have gone in there confront them. They should take the indian approach with a little enhancement. The should throw a couple smoke bomb in there and as they come running out whipp there butts then arrest pastor. That way they the congregation would not have time get mad . one lady in south korea inffected thousands in a church. If you so desperate to go church now when there is a curfew to try stop a pandemic then you have real spiritual problems. This is the height of ignorance and negligence. God hear your prayers at home and id you living according to what he asked you shouldn’t have to be in a church congregating.

  11. March 30, 2020

    For your own sake and the sake of the community, stay home and pray there. God can still hear you.

    • Toto
      March 31, 2020

      Amen Steve, God doesn’t need WhatsApp or Face book, especially not sermon by puny little men.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available