Police arrested a key activist of the People Partnership early Monday morning but released him without charge a few hours later.
In a media release Monday morning the St Joseph constituency expressed “profound concern and alarm” over what it called clear acts “of intimidation and harassment”.
Susilla Ramkissoon, the election agent for the UNC candidate Herbert Volney, said police made the arrest at about 1:45 a.m. Monday, Election Day.
She said the person – whose name was not given – was “hounded out of his home, arrested and detained at the Morvant police station for no apparent or justifiable cause.”
Ramkissoon explained that the person had certain key internal constituency documents "which are generated in the normal course of business of any campaign office" and added that “It was only after the intervention of our team of attorneys…that our activist…was released without charges.”
She said police did not return the important campaign office documents seized from the UNC activist.
Ramkissson also said the home of the campaign manager for the constituency was surrounded early Monday morning “by a number of vehicles which were under the control of what was clearly plain clothes police officer…these individuals remained at our manager’s home for close to two hours conducting surveillance before leaving.”
The release condemned “these unwarranted and dastardly” acts, adding that the candidate would request that the Caricom observer team include the incidents in its final report.
The UNC appealed to police not to allow themselves to be used as “instruments of state repression” and reminded them that they have an obligation “to uphold the rule of law and not to allow the democratic process to be subverted.”
It said, “Citizens of this country must be free during the electoral process to exercise their democratic right to vote for the political party of their choice and this exercise must be conducted in a manner which is fair to all sectors of society and without any agency of the state using its powers to subvert this right…the mighty machinery of the state must not be used as an instrument of state repression.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jai & Sero
Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai
1 comment:
The police must provide a detailed and public answer as to why a key political activist for the opposition coalition was dragged from bed in the middle of the night without charge and had vital documents seized. They must further provide detailed explanations for the surveillence. If they were operating under false intelligence, we need to know who provided that false intelligence. If they are simply partisan hacks seeking to intimidate and disrupt, they must be dealt with swiftly to the full extent of the law.
Post a Comment