http://guardian.co.tt/news/...shots-tear-gas-laventilleGunshots, tear gas in Laventille
Shots were fired and tear gas thrown as residents and police clashed at Picton Road, Laventille, yesterday. The mid-afternoon drama was caused by the detention of an 18-year-old resident, Trevlon Harry, by members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) hours earlier.
Harry managed to escape from the Laventille hills and was interviewed by the media, still wearing handcuffs on his wrists. He told CNC3 that when he was taken to an area called Block 8, the police called out some men who beat him.
Harry said kept on asking him for a gun. But he said he told them that it was in a house close by in order to get away. He said hen he got an opportunity he ran away in handcuffs. The heat was on when about 300 residents engaged in a stand-off with the heavily-armed police and soldiers at the corner of Dan Kelly Village and Picton Road, demanding answers. Several parts of Picton Road, leading to Pump Trace, were blocked with burning tyres, dust bins and debris.
One of the officers of the unit had to be rescued when residents spotted him in the area. All it took was for one man to shout, “All you, look the officer over there, the one who kidnap the youth-man!” Men, women, children and the elderly left their stand-off position near the tanks, and ran towards the officer. With chants of “Allah-U-Ackbar,” or “God is great,” the villagers called upon the officer to say what happened to Harry.
“What you do with the boy? Where the youth man you and you team kidnap this morning?” asked a resident. “He need to give us some answers now before we beat the living out of him,” said another villager, as he shoved his hand in the officer’s face. Outnumbered by the irate villagers, the officer was advised by a senior officer to leave the area, before things got out of control. As the officer entered a vehicle to make his retreat, residents hurled abuses at him.
“Why you running for? Don’t run, barber boy, don’t run,” some of them chanted. “Imagine, little children playing and all you just firing shots and tear gas all because of a peaceful protest. “Well all you shoot now! All you can’t shoot?” shouted a man as three heavily-armed officers formed a barricade near the tank. The officers later made a hasty retreat after the crowd grew and began behaving violently.
“They kidnap a a youth-man here this morning, take him from here in Picton ...and carried him over in Block Eight and have men beating him, bussing up he head. “We block the road because we want to know where the youth man gone, said one villager, who did not wish to be identified.
“They (police) pull out tear gas and flash grenades and throw it in the crowds. They said all of us is criminals and gunmen, so they don’t care. But we don’t want no war with them. But if is war they want then is war they go get.” A man who only identified himself as Shabbaz denounced the alleged activities of the police. “As an elder in this community, I think what the police did is unjust. That is not the right way—for the police to be kidnapping people—because when they do that, what are they leaving for us to do?
“We just simply have no faith and trust in the police,” he said. He added, “As long as we don’t get any satisfaction, we are going to continue protesting and once they come around here and advantage us, we going to retaliate, because oppression is worst than slaughter.” Ena Williams, 89, said officers fired a tear gas canister at her. One man was arrested for using obscene language.
Picton Heat
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161476651
POLICE resorted to tear gas and gunfire in the air to quell a growing protest in the hills of Laventille yesterday following the arrest of a teenager who had been dumped off in a rival territory in the crime-ridden district.
Soldiers and police with assault rifles drawn were forced to take control of the situation as it seemed to grow out of control.
Angry young men walked up to heavily armed police officers, pointed their fingers in their faces warning, "All yuh cyar walk through here again ... or else we go deal with all yuh!"
This was the scene in Picton Road, Laventille, near the water tanks, once touted as a tourist attraction. This was the same area where residents engaged in a fiery protest last March over allegations of police brutality.
Residents claimed the incident was sparked after Trevlyn Harry, 18, was picked up by three police officers around 11 a.m. and taken to an area known as "Block Eight" in Laventille where he was beaten by a group of men while the officers looked on.
Harry was warned to lead the police to a gun to stop being beaten even more. While leading the officers to a house in the area he escaped, still handcuffed.
Word about what happened spread through the area like wildfire. Sometime around 4 p.m. the mostly young men started the protest, burning tyres in the road and emptying garbage along the narrow path leading to the area from as far as Pump Trace.
Responding first were officers of the Guard and Emergency Branch and the Besson Street Police Station. They arrived on the scene in a convoy of SUVs and vans and at first tried to calm irate residents.
Residents alleged that some of the officers fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd. This didn't work and members of the Riot Squad were called in as reinforcements.
The blimp hovered overhead as it circled the area providing information to law enforcement officials on the ground.
Tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd as officers took strategic positions guarding their colleagues who were on the front line. The crowd dispersed but then rushed forward, confronting the officers as the smoke billowed across the terrain.
One can of tear gas was rolled into the seething crowd and exploded, sending them scampering in different directions.
Some of the protesters wrapped their faces in T-shirts and moved head on at the officers as the confrontation continued.
The Express, however, witnessed the effects of the tear gas long after the canister had been emptied. It was rather painful to the eyes.
The presence of members of the media seemed to embolden the protesters even more.
In full view of cameras they approached the heavily armed officers demanding to see one officer, who they claimed, was among the group who picked up Harry.
When they spotted him, they ran up to him but his colleagues prevented the mob from dealing with the officer.
"They hiding him!" accused the crowd.
"Look him dey," they said.
The police, now backed up by members of the Regiment, fortified their position in front of their colleague.
Mostly Galils-the weapon of choice by both police and Regiment- were kept at the ready. It even appeared that the situation was about to become much worse had a Guard and Emergency Branch Inspector not intervened.
He spoke to his officers. He even spoke to the crowd and kept the tension-filled flare-ups at a minimum.
By about 6.15 p.m. the protest had been quelled.
"That eh the end," assured one young man..." All yuh go have real work later," he told reporters.Police maintained a presence in the area late yesterday.
