Security blanket over PoS today

Officers from the Mounted Branch will conduct horse patrols while motorcyclists from the Highway Patrol Branch will ensure that traffic is controlled. Different sections from the Police Service, both uniform and plainclothes officers, will also ensure that security is maintained.

Senior officers said yesterday that with four bombings in Port-of-Spain and St James, they are not taking chances, and with the expected turnout of thousands of people today, security will be the main focus.

Newsday learnt that only four politicians have confirmed that they will be attending the massive Death March.

They are — UNC Political Leader Winston Dookeran, UNC Deputy Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Gillian Lucky and Nizam Baksh.

The Death March Committee has been granted permission for use of Woodford Square until 4 pm today.

Three hundred and six persons will stage a symbolic presentation by forming a circle to represent the number of people murdered for the year.

The march will start at the corner of Chacon Street and Independence Square at 9 am.

Four speakers will address the gathering at Woodford Square.

They are Christine Hosein — mother of a kidnap victim rescued by the police; Stephen Cadiz — Chairman of the Keith Noel 136 Committee; Wayne Chance, spokesman for Vision on a Mission; and Annette Raphael, mother of a murder victim.

The Keith Noel 136 Committee insisted yesterday that the group has no political motives.

Yesterday, the PNM called on its members to boycott the Death March.

The group has already secured more than 100,000 signatures from members of the public, and that petition has already been presented to President George Maxwell Richards in a bid to get the authorities to deal with the crime situation.