As thousands marched through Port-of-Spain yesterday, traffic was disrupted and motorists faced serious inconvenience trying to enter and leave the inner city which affected business operations. Reports indicated there were rush-hour traffic jams on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and the Lady Young Road, Morvant, as people tried to leave the city before the march ended.
Downtown Owners & Merchants Association (DOMA)?president Gregory Aboud said business would inevitably have been affected to some extent by the march. "Obviously, a procession such as that will have an impact on vehicular traffic and this will affect, to some extent, business operations.
"But we hasten to point out that this is part of the cut and thrust of the life we live in Port-of-Spain. We have come to accept the ups and downs and also recognise that an event such as today's procession is a healthy exercise of the society's expression and business people, like everyone else in society, have shown their willingness to give and take when it comes to the healthy operation of our democracy and the pursuit of well-being for the people."
Asked if he was saying DOMA supported the march, Aboud said, "No. I am saying that there was some effect on business but this is part and parcel of business operations in the capital. "Port-of-Spain is quite accustomed to events such as today's and we have been witnesses to many, many processions and marches."
Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing spoke to the T&T Guardian via telephone while he marched with the thousands calling for the removal of Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and National security Minister Jack Warner. "I think the police should have been prepared by discouraging motorists from entering the routes of the march," he said.
"People have been waiting a long time for the march to go by. It's a pretty huge march. If we are at one end of the city, people are still at the other end.