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Highway Re-routers build new camp in Debe

Radhica Sookraj
Published: 
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Highway Re-route Movement activists shelter from the sun during their daytime vigil outside the Hall of Justice on Knox Street, Port-of-Spain. PHOTO: NICOLE DRAYTON

 

Construction of a new Highway Re-route Movement camp continued yesterday on private lands in the path of the $7.2 billion San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway. The camp is the third to be built by the Re-routers, who are protesting Government’s plan to use agricultural land and relocate 300 homes, heritage sites, schools and places of worship. Camp manager Elizabeth Rambharose said the new site was on her family’s property and it would be used as a venue to educate residents about the dangers of Phase Two of the highway. This connects Debe to Mon Desir. Rambharose said the camp’s roof was covered on Sunday but has not yet been completed.
 
Meanwhile, head of the Highway Re-route Movement, Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, sought medical attention yesterday for a swollen right hand which he allegedly sustained during a scuffle with police. Rambharose said Kublalsingh was unable to use his hand.
 “It is still very swollen and even though he went to the doctor before, it is not healing,” she added. Other members of the group are continuing a daytime  vigil outside the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain. Attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj is expected to file an injunction in the High Court this week to stop Phase Two of the highway. He also plans to file a separate lawsuit to recover damages on Kublalsingh’s, for wrongful arrest. 
 
In his lawsuit, Maharaj said he hoped to show T&T was in danger of becoming a police state as the Government was now instructing the armed forces to do its bidding. In early June, National Security Minister Jack Warner was present when the group’s camp at the M2 Ring Road was dismantled, triggering condemnation from several quarters. Warner was accused of abusing his powers by giving directives to the police and regiment, charges which he denied, saying the armed forces were acting well within the law and that the protesters were “occupiers” of State lands.
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‘Re-routers’ set up camp outside Hall of Justice

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