Kali­fa Clyne

Ver­bal clash­es be­tween po­lice and op­posers of the Con­sti­tu­tion (Amend­ment) Bill got heat­ed this morn­ing af­ter po­lice moved the pro­test­ers away from the Wright­son Road Wa­ter­front Com­plex to a near­by bar­ri­cad­ed area near Break­fast Shed.

Sen­a­tors will de­bate the con­tro­ver­sial bill at 1.30pm at Tow­er D, Wa­ter­front Com­plex, Wright­son Road, Port of Spain. Up to about one hour be­fore the start of the de­bate, the scene out­side Par­lia­ment was set, with pro­test­ers from both sides stand­ing very close to each oth­er. Those against the Bill were a flag-wav­ing bunch, chant­i­ng lyrics loud­ly, while the pro-gov­ern­ment sup­port­ers were a more sober-faced group.

But short­ly be­fore noon, the scene turned con­fronta­tion­al when po­lice or­dered the pro­test­ers to move to a bar­ri­cad­ed area. Pro­test­ers were un­will­ing to move, and re­peat­ed chants of "Kam­la must go" while de­fy­ing of­fi­cers by stay­ing on the spot.

One el­der­ly woman, who was pushed for­ward as po­lice of­fi­cers tried to guide the group to­ward the bar­ri­cad­ed area, cried out and told of­fi­cers not to touch her. Pro­test­ers said they were be­ing treat­ed un­fair­ly and were con­fused as to why they were be­ing told to move.

Po­lice said they had giv­en or­ders from their se­nior of­fi­cers.

Par­lia­ment po­lice, of­fi­cers from the Port-of-Spain di­vi­sion and Guard and Emer­gency branch were present.

When pro­test­ers fi­nal­ly re­lent­ed and moved to­ward the bar­ri­cad­ed area, the ver­bal clash­es be­tween both sides were im­me­di­ate. One woman wear­ing a yel­low shirt got in­to a con­fronta­tion with an­oth­er, wear­ing red. Ten­sions, which were al­ready high, seemed to be es­ca­lat­ing as po­lice con­tin­ued to mon­i­tor the crowd.