T&T nationals living in London, England, have formed themselves into groups to defend their communities in Britain. This was revealed by High Commissioner to London Garvin Nicholas yesterday. "Very interestingly, groups of citizens have come out determined to protect their neighbourhoods from troublemakers," he said. This followed an advisory from Nicholas to nationals there to continue to be careful as looting and rioting continue. The advice was issued after four days of rioting and looting in London after a police killing at the weekend.
Nicholas, in a statement issued yesterday, said the High Commission had been "actively monitoring" the violence and looting since Saturday. He said the commission issued notices to nationals "to remain cautious and vigilant and to contact the Mission in the event of an emergency." He said the commission had also been in contact with various groups of the T&T Diaspora across the UK. Nicholas denied reports that staff had to flee the High Commission on Wednesday. In seeking to clarify the report, Nicholas said that at about 3.40 pm on Tuesday, August 9, the High Commission received information "about a possible riot in the vicinity of Victoria House (more than one kilometre from the commission's office).
"The police were encouraging businesses in the area to close early," he said. "Given the mission's close proximity to Victoria Station and the fact that several members of the locally recruited staff had to commute via Victoria Station, an announcement was made at around 3.45 pm, for staff to leave early to avoid any crowd of demonstrators." He said staff returned to work yesterday "and we had a normal working day today." He said he met with staff yesterday and none expressed any untoward experience during the riots. "We have been in touch with some 200 registered students and they are all fine," Nicholas said. "No reports from our end about any national needing assistance, but we remain vigilant."