CURRIED DUCK, RUM, TASSA IN THE ROAD

Intensifying their fiery road protest which they started on Monday, villagers yesterday lit fires at various locations — from Esparanza Village to No 2 Scale, Barrackpore.

Villagers living between these two points were marooned in their homes and schools were closed.

Braving the billowing thick black smoke, police officers and members of the Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) responded with full force.

They were, however, met with pockets of angry villagers at various points when they attempted to clear the roadways.

Policemen pushed aside and lifted water tanks and tree trunks off the road at Lower Barrackpore.

But as soon as the lawmen turned their backs, villagers spilled onto the roadway and began dousing kerosene on more junk and old tyres.

They pushed water tanks, derelicts, tree trunks and threw tyres on the roadway.

Police officers from the nearby Barrackpore Police Station, and from the Princes Town and Marabella Police Stations as well as the Debe Police Post, quickly responded armed with machine guns and batons.

One villager Herman Rampersad, intervened, begging the protesters to allow him to carry medication to his ailing 90-year-old mother. He stood outside his car and wept, but the villagers were unmoved.

When a contingent of policemen jumped into their vehicles to quell another noisy protest at Monkey Town, villagers in Lower Barrackpore piled more debris and derelicts on the road. They kept up a noisy protest with tassa drumming. Scores of villagers held cups in their hands containing rum.

A pot of curried duck was steaming over a small fire nearby.

Holding umbrellas over their heads for protection from the blistering sun, the residents waved placards which read “Because we ain’t vote PNM they ignoring us” and “Hazel Manning spend millions on school refurbishment but Monkey Town Government School still closed.”

The residents vowed to step up their protest action if the Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert did not visit the area.

The residents also called on Education Minister Hazel Manning to explain to them why Monkey Town Government Primary School had remained closed for the last two years.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, President of the Barrackpore Taxi Drivers Association Ramnath Ramdass, said that taxi drivers were forced to increase taxi fares because of the bad conditions of the roads.

“We know that the fare is high, but our vehicles are damaged daily while driving along the San Fernando to Barrackpore route and we have to spend hundreds of dollars to do repairs… why must we be treated so… the Pitch Lake is in Trinidad.”