Citizens who may be thinking about staging protest action against government or any institution in the future have been given a stern warning by the country’s Deputy Police Chief Cyril Carrette.
On Monday, residents of Calibishie blocked roads to force Government to address their concerns and last Monday residents of Sinekou blocked their roads with trees, after they were dissatisfied with the slow progress of work on their playing field.
But Carrette said measures will be put in place to prevent protesters from blocking roads in Dominica.
He told a media interview that the blocking of roads is illegal.
“When persons have matters to be resolved especially with the government, they should try to do so by other means than breaking the law. It is because we are using our discretion, hence the reason why we have not had some serious confrontation and we are urging persons to try and resolve their disputes by other means,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police gives permission to persons wanting to use the roads for protest action but “when you go ad block the road, you are obstructing the free flow of traffic and we are going to take a serious stance against those who are violating the law in that regard”.
Carrette said the police will deal with the situation if and when it occurs again.
– DNO Correspondent
to have an effective protest you got to do what you have to do! that is the only time people in authority will notice!
So if I want to protest what your saying is I have the right to disrupt your life. Stop you from going to work. Stop you from bring your child to school or a doctor. Stop Ambulance from going to emergency’s. I would be using the name Anonymous to if I were you. You should add If ” It’s all about me” behind Anonymous.
But wait a minute mr CA.. is it 2 months prison for blocking the road? according to the old laws!
You said serious stand? Thats not serious man. The law does not permit Tyani to overstep
any more.
I like the Police and what they do but we always have to be careful what we say.
They only serious measure the police can and should take is arrest the people when they breaking the law. The commisioner himself has to approve a protest since it is the legal right of every citizen. We have the right to demand things from the government because we put them in. If blocking the road is the only illegal thing they did then arrest them.
Don’t threaten like you going to take drastic measures or you going to war. Further more if the protests are peaceful then there should be no issues. Excessive force should be the last resort and used only when all else is expired. Excessive force should be used if the crowd is uncontrollable large and disruptive to citizens life and property. further more if they are prevented from blocking roads then they cannot be arrested cause no crime is committed. I hope he is thinking of restraint and his main objective is to protect the life and property of citizens, protesting or not. I hope he take his own advise and use the best means to deal with protestors
Apparently the other methods of dealing with the government has not worked. Protest has seem to be the most effective form thus far.
Furthermore, on the topic of dealing with law breakers, i hope he can use the same approach to dealing with policemen who openly and blatantly show political preference in public. That i think is illegal too.
Live by example
My opinion
They should be arrested for blocking the road but excuse me while i light my mix cigar mr.officer.got to meditate on the future of my sweet Dominica.
ppl have thr right to express themselves, hope election time they voice their dissatisfaction.
Thank You DEPUTY its high time and over time that our fellow Dominican people should be put on notice that the police are not sleeping and their so called discreation is not a license for people to block roads and hinder the movements of law abiding people. I am fully aware that under those cicumstances the police have to be very carefull how they react cause there`s always politics involved i know very well cause i suffered the same frustration while in the police force which led me in part to leave the policeservice. But we all have to realized police officers are there to protect life and property its no secreat that we have a few policeofficers acting as politicians and some are proud to admit such nonethless it is what it is and we are not perfect. Our full support goes to the hard working policeofficers we are always proud to decleare that there`s no other profession better than being train as a law enforcement personell for weather we leave or still serving as officers the exprience never leave. We truly have the best police force bare none if not the World but definitely the caribbean. Let the would be law breakers take notice.
Yeah ,you …..they probably kicked you out the Force cause you stole something..Frigging I….!….Learn how to spell,,,,yeah “secreat?”…”personell”?…”exprience”?….”bare none”?..discreation”?.!….JACK…!…NO WONDER THEY KICKED YOU OUT THE FORCE!,,,(LOL)
YOU GOT FIRED!….Won’t you go back to school and Learn how to Spell,Read,and Write..or should i say RITE?……….DA…!!!…….YOU ARE DESPICABLE!..(You kno wat it means?…lol)
Hello Mr.Carette, please sir while you at it work on changing that old style Garbadine Uniform the high ranking officers wear. Take a close look at the BVI and St. Lucia Police Forces (black & white). It is much more professional and representative of the police. Further, shirt jack may be part of our culture but it is OUT of style so lets get on with the program. Just what the doctor ordered sir. Otherwise, you are doing a good job.
THAT WHAT YOU WILL GET FROM A GOVERNMENT … SUCH AS THE DOMINICA LABOUR PARTY, PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO PROTEST, BLOCKING A ROAD IS MINOR MATTERS IN A CIVIL PROTEST, BUT AS MY PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THEIR RIGHTS,
POLICE CAN TELL THEM ANYTHING AND DO THEM ANYTHING, DOMINICA GETS ITS IDEAS FROM CHINA, YOU CANT DO CERTAIN THINGS IN CHINA AND THE SAME IN DOMINICA, SOON YOU WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED TO HAVE ONLY ONE CHILD IN DOMINICA,
I support u young man in D A because Dominican/s ready this time is a different system now
country were ther is no opposition people have to stand up for there rights.
so if is so we can get them guys to do our work now? it have to go on
DCP is not a POLITICAN leave this talk for them to enact LAWS not you. You (force) have to enforce it, so don’t SING for you supper Sir.
If is one thing i will not support is that nonsense about wanting to tell people when where and how to protest protest is protest we not satisfied and we protesting how we see fit.I would like to tell mr big time police officer that they should be carefull what stands they take cause a simple protests can easyly escalate, and believe me if you see dominica have to go through what it went through in 1979 again hmmmmm trust me its going to be 500 times worst than 1979.
All citizens must learn to abide by the laws of the land. No one is saying that you can’t protest – just not in the illegal way it continues to be done in DA. In any other OECS country, all the organisers/participants of the illegal protests would have been arrested. In fact, persons have gotten arrested in another territory just for organising a march without police permission (no roadblocks or other obstruction was employed by those protesters). We need to be careful what message we send out to the youth.
Thanks for that Deputy Chief as I was getting concerned that the police was fast asleep and unable to take the necessary action.
MAN THAT CAN BE DONE TO CHANGE THAT 1920 LAWS WE HAVE DOWN HERE ,THATS WHY MY COUNTRY CANT GET ANY WHERE THE GOVERNMENT PUT SHIT IN YOUR MOUTH AND U HAVE TO EAT ALL ,HAVE U SEEN HOW THE FRECH PEOPLE PROTEST ,THE POLICE STAND THERE AND THIS PEOPLE BLOCK ALL ROADS AND NOTING CAN PASS LOL ,IF WERE WERE LIKE THE FRENCH DOMINICA WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE
you said “if we were like french dominica would be a better place”!!!!! how can you be sure of that??? always wanting to be and do like somebody huh!!!! we can be ourselves and try to improve everyday without always wishing we were like somebody else!