Showers wash out HDC protest

The small gruop from the East Port-of-Spain Business Association, and Is We Community Developers, wearing red jerseys and bearing placards, had begun the mid-day protest in front Hosein’s Roti Shop at the corner of Queen and George streets under a dark sky.

But they were determined to protest the HDC’s alleged plan to relocate them to places like Gran Couva and Manzanilla as the Government seeks to re-develop East Port of Spain. They are claiming there was no proper consultation with them.

Some of their placards read, “HDC’s new dictator-Garcia”, “Leave we property alone!” and “Why they don’t move the Syrians?”

Spurred on by a protester shouting through a megaphone, the group marched through the city down to the HDC on South Quay, creating a stir as business owners and workers came out on the sidewalk to watch them. A police Rapid Response vehicle appeared on Independence Square, as drivers stopped for them to cross the street.

The protest picked up tempo when they reached in front the Ministry of Housing on South Quay where the HDC is located. Ignoring the few police officers stationed nearby, the protesters shouts grew louder as they converged on the sidewalk in front the HDC’s doors.

“Do we have a concerned government?” the man with the megaphone asked.

“No!” the group shouted back. “We not going!”

Demanding that Garcia consult with them, they began a new chant, “We want Garcia now!”

Referring to Housing Minister Keith Rowley, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the deadly hurricane Ivan of 2004, the protester with the megaphone, shouted, “We taking Garcia now. We want Rowley tomorrow and the next day we want Manning! We taking them in any kind of weather! A next Ivan could come, we not moving!”

But he did not convince the protestors. As the heavy clouds burst and the rain poured down, they scattered, desperately seeking shelter anywhere. Some even tried to get inside the HDC building, telling the officers posted by the doors that they would leave their placards outside.

In a desperate bid to keep the protest together, president of the East Port-of-Spain Business Association, Hayden Roberts, grabbed the megaphone and implored, “Face the rain. It have fire behind!”

But as the wet group huddled together under the edge of the HDC’s roof, their “fire” extinguished.

When it looked like the rain was not letting up, the protesters, some under umbrellas, marched silently across Independence Square in the downpour and disappeared up George Street, ending the demonstration.

But an undaunted Roberts told Newsday, “This is the first in a series of protests we plan to have and we have achieved what we wanted. We drove home the point. The rain didn’t stop us. The weather didn’t create a problem for us.”

Roberts even warned, “We are going to have many more protests until Garcia and the HDC give us a hearing, until they come to us and consult with us.” He said the next protest would be “very soon.”