It's not over; DPP to get file on Red House demonstration

Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert's initial reaction to last Friday's demonstration and police action outside the Red House was regrettable and suggested that it should not have happened.

He promised to investigate and now that he has kept that promise, he is making it clear the matter is not closed.

The top cop told reporters Tuesday he is sending a file and a videotape of the incident to acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard to see if the demonstrators committed other offences for which they could be charged.

Police charged trade unionist David Abdullah with obstruction. He appeared in court Monday and will be back on January 13.

Philbert told the media he felt his officers behaved in "a very generous way" last Friday but they had to enforce the law.

He said Speaker Barendra Sinanan complained that the demonstrators were disturbing Parliament and they had to act to deal with that.

"It is an offence to do that. Parliament is the highest court in the land. Parliament must not be disturbed at all. We have had incidents in the past where people directed their attention to Parliament, and so when the Speaker complained, a message came that the proceedings were being disturbed, something had to be done to deal with that disruption,” Philbert said.

He insisted that people tried to prevent the police from arresting Abdulah. He also said officers asked OWTU president Ancil Roget to manage the crowd and he told them he could not guarantee that.

"People were actually saying they were not moving. The police spoke to some of them and actually ignored some of them. I thought the police exercised restraint,” he said.

Commenting on what he saw in the video tape that police shot, Philbert said, “I saw people jostling the police, and the police having to jostle them back. The police had to use the extended baton which is for that particular purpose.

“The police did not hit them with a stone or a piece of wood. After speaking to them, they used the next level of recourse. Because I saw placards being swung.

"At one time it seemed to be a kind of exchange, something resembling a sword fight where a placard and a baton were fighting each other,” he said.

Philbert felt police are becoming the scapegoats in the matter. "I think the police did a lot to keep it calm. It could have been worse if the police did not exercise discretion at all,” he said.