JANELLE BERNARD

Pro­duc­er

Op­po­si­tion leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is not back­ing down on her calls for po­lice of­fi­cers to re­turn crim­i­nal fire with full force.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar says po­lice of­fi­cers must do what is nec­es­sary to pro­tect them­selves.

And she al­so ex­tend­ed that call to home­own­ers, once again, say­ing they must stand their ground.

“Last week, I heard some cow­ards telling the po­lice, “No, don’t do that. Don’t do that nah’,” the UNC leader re­count­ed.  “Those cow­ards! What do they want the po­lice­men to do? Go and tick­le the crim­i­nals?  Go and tick­le them and play with them like pets?”

“They are hu­man be­ings!  Our De­fence Force, and our TTPS are hu­man be­ings.  And I tell them again, ‘At­tack with full force when vi­o­lent crim­i­nals come in your face! Do not be afraid!” she de­clared.  

She added: “And I say that to peo­ple in their homes, ‘Stand your ground in your home!  When crim­i­nals are in­vad­ing your home, stand your ground with full force!”

Political leader of the United National Congress, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, addresses party supporters at the Star Team slate’s meeting at Signature Hall, Chaguanas, on Monday 3 June 2024. [Image courtesy Kamla Persad-Bissessar Facebook]

The UNC leader al­so en­dorsed the Star Team slate.  She en­cour­aged par­ty mem­bers to vote for the can­di­dates on the team, which has un­der­gone some changes.

These in­clude Sen­a­tor Anil Roberts be­ing re­placed by MP Khadi­jah Ameen to con­test as North-East Re­gion­al Rep­re­sen­ta­tive.  Mean­while, MP Bar­ry Padarath is con­test­ing as Par­ty Or­gan­is­er in­stead of MP Ravi Rati­ram. Rati­ram is now seek­ing the Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer post.

“On Sat­ur­day June 15th, join the Stars.  Put your X next to the star on the bal­lot. Yes, ‘Unit­ed we will win’,” she told par­ty sup­port­ers.

The Op­po­si­tion Leader was speak­ing dur­ing the par­ty's Mon­day night meet­ing at Sig­na­ture Hall, Ch­agua­nas, on June 3rd.