RHON­DOR DOWLAT-ROS­TANT

Po­lice have ar­rest­ed 48 peo­ple at over 19 il­le­gal Car­ni­val par­ties oc­cur­ring over the week­end in north­ern Trinidad.

Po­lice told the Guardian Me­dia that of­fi­cers were very busy from Fri­day night to the wee hours of Mon­day morn­ing as they at­tempt­ed to dis­perse rev­ellers who chose to con­gre­gate in their re­spec­tive com­mu­ni­ties for planned and im­promp­tu un­of­fi­cial J’ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions.

Some of the ar­eas in which these cel­e­bra­tions took place in­clud­ed Ari­ma where there were two events, Mal­oney with two as well, Bagatelle in Diego Mar­tin, Sea Lots, Beetham, Ed­in­burgh 500 with two events, En­ter­prise, Curepe with a cou­ple, North Coast Road, Port-of-Spain and San Fer­nan­do with three events, to­talling 19 lo­ca­tions.

Guardian Me­dia was told that in St Paul’s Street in East Port-of-Spain po­lice of­fi­cers al­leged­ly seized mu­sic equip­ment and drinks by the cas­es in an at­tempt to dis­perse the par­ty-go­ers.

An unidentified woman is arrested by police officers for disorderly behavior after the lawmen stopped an illegal J’ouvert celebration at Mendez Trace, Arima, yesterday.

ABRAHAM DIAZ

How­ev­er, as soon as the of­fi­cers left the area the par­ty re-com­menced and con­tin­ued way in­to the hours on Sun­day night.

On Sat­ur­day night, three peo­ple, in­clud­ing a woman, were de­tained at the same lo­ca­tion for al­leged un­ruly be­hav­iour.

In Ari­ma, 45 peo­ple were de­tained on Sun­day at 5 am in Pey­tonville.

The of­fi­cers then went to Sama­roo Vil­lage, Ari­ma, where they saw an­oth­er par­ty in progress. How­ev­er, peo­ple ran away when they saw the po­lice. No one was de­tained.

In an of­fi­cial re­sponse to ques­tions sent to the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS), the cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ca­tions unit con­firmed that the TTPS re­ceived sev­er­al calls of gath­er­ings through­out the 10 polic­ing di­vi­sions.

“Op­er­a­tors at our Emer­gency Com­mand Cen­tre in St James and Di­vi­sion­al Op­er­a­tional Com­mand Cen­tres dis­patched po­lice of­fi­cers who re­spond­ed to these re­ports, and in most in­stances, the crowds were im­me­di­ate­ly dis­persed be­fore or on ar­rival of first re­spon­ders,” the TTPS said.

Party geors are forced to take down a tent after police swooped down on an illegal J’ouvert celebration at 7 Up Road, Maturita Arima, yesterday.

ABRAHAM DIAZ

It al­so added that Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Mc­Don­ald Ja­cob, has in­struct­ed con­tin­ued and sus­tained pa­trols be con­duct­ed through­out the re­main­der of the “Taste of Car­ni­val” sea­son.

A reveler leaves with his cooler in hand after police moved in to stop an illegal J’ouvert celebration for the third time at 7 Up Road, Maturita Arima, yesterday.

ABRAHAM DIAZ

Police officers stop a party on Manilla Road, off Upper Belmont Valley, Road, on Sunday.

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