Why is there all this brutality in Panorama? As usual, I attended the Panorama semifinals and year after year I am continually shocked at the excessive use of force by police. Every year, unnecessary police violence haunts and destroys the Carnival experience for innocent supporters.
For instance, every year steelband supporters bring their bands over the stage and they stay to hear the band play and then they go home or lime around. Or if there was a passage, some would pay and enter the Savannah stands. In the past five years, fully-armed riot police with tear gas, machine guns and batons beat onlookers who gather at the end of the stage stretching to hear and to see the spectacle of their band, in full uniform, compete.
Is this not normal behaviour? Would Pan Trinbago and these excessive and armed police prefer panplayers to change our culture and arrive at the Savannah without any supporters? Why does Pan Trinbago not understand that this is a music festival, not a riot.
At the Panorama semifinals I witnessed a Pan Trinbago official on stage calling out these special police who arrived within minutes when Renegades were playing. Are these people appreciative of who we are as a people? Are they citizens? Patriots? Does Pan Trinbago or the police understand that supporters love their band?
It appears they aim to deprive pan lovers of the euphoria they feel in Panorama. But is this the spirit of Carnival? Tens of millions of Tidco advertising cannot smother the damage these ill-advised officers are creating! Where do they think we are? Mali? Please Pan Trinbago and Mr Commissioner of Police, this is Trinidad and Tobago.
There is a lot of room on the eastern and western sides of the stage, and the north side of the stage is more than wide enough for the supporters to listen to their band. Please, you must find a civilised and orderly way to accommodate band supporters. Please, please stop the brutality in panorama!
Gary G Aboud,
Port-of-Spain