As part of sweeping new anti-gang legislation under debate in Barbados’ House of Assembly, government ministers have issued a stark warning to family members and associates of gang affiliated individuals: knowingly sheltering criminal gang members will carry severe legal consequences, and harm communities and households across the country. The discussion centered on the Criminal Gangs (Prevention and Control) Bill, a piece of legislation crafted to crack down on gang-related activity and address gaps in existing law that have allowed criminal networks to operate with impunity.
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Caribbean Female Empowerment Movement Hosts Inaugural Girls Day Camp in Antigua
On a sunny Sunday in late May 2026, a groundbreaking new initiative for young women took root at Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Environment Conference Room, as the Caribbean Female Empowerment Movement (cFEM) welcomed dozens of girls from across local communities to its first ever Bloom and Become Girls Day Camp. What unfolded over the day was far more than a routine community gathering: it was a transformative experience built on intentional learning, joyful connection, deep self-discovery, and targeted empowerment for a generation of young girls ready to step into their power.
Founded by Dominican-born counselor, educator and renowned youth advocate Nicola Reefe-Babb, cFEM’s girls program was built to address a critical gap in youth development: providing dedicated, safe spaces where girls can build the foundational confidence, practical life skills and growth-oriented mindsets needed to thrive through life’s challenges, while fully embracing the unique potential each participant brings to the table. Unlike generic youth programs, the Bloom and Become camp centers the specific needs of growing girls, creating a judgment-free supportive environment where attendees are encouraged to chase big dreams, nurture trusting healthy relationships, and practice leadership from a young age.
The day’s schedule was carefully crafted to balance education, engagement and fun, with a diverse lineup of activities tailored to different interests and growth goals. Girls took part in interactive group discussions, hands-on creative projects, collaborative team-building challenges, and targeted empowerment workshops focused on core life skills: building sustainable self-esteem, navigating personal growth, setting actionable long-term goals, building resilience in the face of setback, and making intentional positive decisions for their futures. Every session circled back to a core message: every girl has inherent worth, her individuality is a strength, and she deserves the confidence to pursue every personal and academic goal she sets.
Speaking after the event, Reefe-Babb shared heartfelt gratitude for the collective effort that made the inaugural camp a success, thanking the volunteer facilitators, participating parents, community sponsors, and the girls themselves who brought energy and enthusiasm to every activity. She went on to outline the long-term vision that drives cFEM’s girls chapter: to build recurring, meaningful programs that support girls and young women across the region to overcome systemic and personal barriers, unlock their untapped potential, and grow into confident community leaders.
Reefe-Babb emphasized that the one-day camp was never meant to be a standalone event. “This camp is not just a one-off gathering — it is an investment in the future of our region’s girls,” she explained. “Our goal is for every girl who leaves here to carry this certainty with her: she is capable, she is valuable, and she is born for greatness.”
The sold-out, successful first camp marks a major milestone for cFEM, which is working to expand its mission of nurturing personal growth, leadership development, and systemic empowerment for young girls across Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Caribbean. Local communities across the region have already expressed enthusiastic support for the organization’s work, with many anticipating more impactful programming in the years ahead. As cFEM continues its work, it aims to turn girls with big dreams into women with clear vision — women who will go on to shape a more equitable, prosperous future for the Caribbean and the world beyond.
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LETTER: Demand for Recognition of Jamal Jonas AKA Mello Don
In the wake of the 2026 Antigua and Barbuda General Elections, simmering frustration has boiled over within the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP)’s St. John’s Rural East constituency, as a group of anonymous concerned supporters have openly demanded that party leadership formally recognize the outsized electoral contributions of local activist Jamal Jonas, better known by his moniker Mello Don.
Many long-time and grassroots ABLP supporters in the constituency say they are deeply disillusioned by the party’s failure to acknowledge Mello Don’s work, arguing that his relentless on-the-ground campaigning was the critical factor that delivered the constituency’s win for the ABLP. Unlike many party figures who only made public appearances for media photo opportunities, Mello Don maintained a constant daily and nightly presence across the constituency throughout the entire campaign cycle.
His work spanned every core function of a successful electoral push: he mobilized disengaged young voters, organized coordinated canvassing operations, lifted the morale of supporters who had grown discouraged by competing messaging, and personally bore much of the responsibility for keeping campaign momentum high from the launch of the race to election day. What is more, his commitment extended far beyond the borders of St. John’s Rural East: whenever neighboring constituencies needed extra support, Mello Don stepped in to bolster the ABLP’s outreach, strengthening the party’s overall electoral performance across a wider region.
Supporters particularly emphasize his unique ability to connect with first-time and young voters, a demographic that has become increasingly critical to election outcomes across Antigua and Barbuda. Mello Don’s consistent presence and unwavering passion gave young constituents confidence that their political participation could drive tangible change, a message that drove unprecedented turnout among that group. The anonymous supporters make the unflinching claim that without Mello Don’s work, the ABLP would never have secured victory in St. John’s Rural East.
Given this, the complete lack of public recognition for his contributions has come as a shock to grassroots backers, who say the snub is unacceptable. The letter argues that the party’s willingness to benefit from the tireless work of dedicated activists like Mello Don, only to cast them aside after votes are counted, sends a damaging message to rank-and-file members: that loyalty and hard work are only valued when the party needs something from them.
Frustration over the slight is not contained to a small group of insiders, the letter notes; supporters across St. John’s Rural East are openly discussing the unfair treatment of Mello Don, and widespread sentiment holds that formal recognition is long overdue. The anonymous group is calling on ABLP leadership to issue a public, meaningful acknowledgment of Mello Don’s role in the 2026 election victory.
The supporters warn that remaining silent on the issue will only deepen the disappointment felt by loyal backers and young activists across the constituency, and emphasize that the demand will not fade quietly. Those who witnessed Mello Don’s work firsthand have not forgotten his efforts, the letter concludes, and the constituency will continue to push for the recognition he earned.
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PM urges parenting clubs as part of anti-gang strategy
As the Caribbean nation of Barbados grapples with a creeping spread of organized gang activity that has already claimed new lives, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who also holds the national security portfolio, has put forward a multi-pronged strategy to curb the threat, warning that the country risks losing an entire generation to violent gang culture without collective action from families and local communities.
Speaking during parliamentary debate on the landmark Criminal Gangs (Prevention and Control) Bill, Mottley emphasized that while Barbados’ gang problem has not reached the severity seen in neighboring regional territories, it cannot be addressed by government law enforcement alone. She pointed to deep-seated shifts in Barbadian social structures as a core root of the rising youth involvement in gangs, noting that long-held community support systems for childrearing have eroded in recent decades.
Mottley argued that society too often makes dangerous assumptions that all parents inherently know how to raise children with consistent, firm guidance. Many modern caregivers mistakenly equate love with constant approval, she said, and fail to recognize the risks of letting pre-teen and early teen children roam public streets late at night, where they are exposed to gambling, illicit activity, and gang recruitment. These missteps have been compounded by the breakdown of extended family households and the loss of neighborhood mutual support — once cornerstones of Barbadian community life that ensured children received consistent guidance beyond their immediate household. When that collective support vanishes, she said, the void created leaves young people vulnerable to recruitment by criminal gangs.
To rebuild that lost support network, Mottley is calling for the widespread creation of community-based parenting clubs across the country. These local groups will create structured spaces for caregivers to share guidance, learn evidence-based childrearing strategies, and support one another in navigating challenging behavioral issues with young people. Until these community clubs can be fully established and operational, the prime minister proposed the immediate launch of a national support hotline for parents struggling to manage at-risk children.
A key provision of the new criminal gang legislation is a targeted exit strategy designed to help young people who have already joined gangs leave the organization safely. Mottley noted that gang groups often use coercion, violence, threats, and social stigma to trap members even after they recognize they made a mistake and want to exit. “Many young persons will realise that they can get in easy, and then discover that leaving ain’t so easy,” she said, explaining that the bill will create legal and support frameworks to remove the barriers that keep young people trapped in cycles of violence. The legislation also aims to dismantle the code of silence rooted in fear that allows gangs to operate, imposing harsh penalties that make gang activity unprofitable and unsustainable in Barbadian communities.
The plan also includes a $5 million special grant facility for registered faith-based organizations to develop and run youth-focused community programs that provide positive alternatives to gang involvement for at-risk young people. Mottley stressed that these trusted local entities have a long track record of supporting child and youth development, and they will play a critical role in reaching vulnerable populations before gangs do.
Mottley called on all lawmakers and responsible Barbadian citizens to unite behind the strategy, noting that the country had recorded a new gang-linked murder just hours before the parliamentary debate. She insisted that the nation will not surrender to what she called an “insidious culture that has no place in our jurisdiction.” Opening with a call for confronting hard truths about the scope of the problem, she argued that communities cannot allow fear to force families to choose between protecting their loved ones and speaking out about gang activity.
“Sometimes there is that one person in the family who will not listen and sometimes you need tough love to be able to get that person to be dealt with,” she said. “Because the grandmother deserves to be able to sit on the step, if she wants to. She deserves to be out there getting little breeze if she wants to get breeze. The shopkeeper must be able to ply their trade without fearing that if ‘I got a karaoke here somebody can come and spray away bullets and therefore people ain’t coming and I ain’t earning money no more.’” Mottley concluded that these basic quality of life rights for all Barbadians are what the new strategy and legislation are fighting to protect.
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30 May 1650: Amerindians jumped to their deaths at Sauteurs
On May 30 each year, people pause to reflect on a tragic yet iconic chapter of Caribbean colonial history, marking the 1650 mass suicide of more than 40 Island Caribs at Sauteurs in St Patrick, Grenada. Rather than submit to French invading forces, these Indigenous people chose to jump hundreds of feet from a steep coastal cliff to their deaths, an act of resistance that remains etched in Grenada’s collective memory centuries later.
The chain of events leading to the tragedy at what would become known as Leapers’ Hill is intertwined with narratives of betrayal, colonial expansion, and cultural genocide that defined European settlement in the Caribbean. The betrayal began with an Island Carib man named Thomas, who fell into conflict with the local community after he was rejected by the daughter of Chief Duquesne. After killing the chief’s son in retaliation, Thomas fled to the nearby French colony of Martinique, where he offered French governor Du Parquet a chance to seize control of Grenada’s Indigenous population by revealing the location of their secret gathering.
Acting on Thomas’s intelligence, a French force of 60 men launched a surprise night attack on a Carib longhouse perched on the hill overlooking Sauteurs Bay, opening a brutal, deadly assault on the unsuspecting community. Trapped with no path to a fair fight against the armed invaders, around 40 Caribs made the fateful choice to leap from the cliff’s edge instead of surrendering to what they saw as an inglorious life under colonial rule.
In the wake of the incident, the cliff was named Le Morne des Sauteurs – translated as the Hill of Leapers – a name that would eventually be passed to the nearby coastal town that grew around the bay. Contrary to common historical accounts that claim the massacre wiped out Grenada’s Island Carib population, surviving communities held on to their territory and identity through reduced, marginalized circumstances well into the mid-18th century. Even so, the Leapers’ Hill incident is widely recognized as the pivotal turning point that cemented French control over Grenada, ending effective Indigenous resistance to colonization on the island.
Today, the site draws visitors from across the globe, who come to confront the gravity of this ultimate act of collective self-sacrifice for freedom. The tragedy has long resonated with creative creators, inspiring poets, filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists to retell the story of the Carib resistance. For centuries, the quiet hill itself stood as a natural monument to the fallen, until 2007 when a formal marble memorial was installed at the site.
A layer of unintended irony surrounds the new monument: its design incorporates a Christian crucifix, a symbol of the European cultural imperialism the Caribs died to resist. Many have noted that the choice of symbolism makes the memorial a poor fit for honoring the legacy of the people who died defending their home and traditional way of life. Even so, historians point out that public monuments are as much about how contemporary societies process the past as they are about honoring the dead, making the memorial a marker of how far public recognition of this history has come – even as it reveals the work still left to do.
This article draws from *A-Z of Grenada Heritage*, written by John Angus Martin and originally published by Macmillan Caribbean in 2007, available for purchase through Amazon and local Grenadian retailers.
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ABWU Calls for Full Protection of Workers’ Rights in Proposed CIBC Caribbean Acquisition by Butterfield
As the officially recognized collective bargaining body for CIBC Caribbean workers based in Antigua and Barbuda, the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) has formally responded to the recently announced acquisition proposal from Bermuda-based lender The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited. The global financial firm has tabled a plan to purchase CIBC’s controlling 91.7% stake in CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited, a deal that remains contingent on gaining necessary regulatory clearances from regional authorities, with both acquiring and target firms indicating they anticipate no major disruptions to daily operations once the transaction closes under new ownership.
While the union has acknowledged the preliminary statements from both financial institutions regarding operational continuity, the ABWU has moved quickly to lay out non-negotiable requirements for how the ownership transfer must proceed to protect local workers. In a formal correspondence addressed to CIBC leadership, ABWU General Secretary David Massiah has underscored that all corporate acquisition activity impacting Antigua and Barbuda-based employees must align strictly with the nation’s existing labor laws, which outline clear protections for employment contracts, collective bargaining rights, continuous service tenure, severance pay entitlements, and mandatory consultation requirements between employers and worker representatives.
Massiah’s letter explicitly references two key pieces of national legislation that govern this type of corporate ownership change: the 2019 Antigua and Barbuda Labour Code (Amendment) Act No. 9, and the accompanying 2015 amendment to Section 176(g) of the nation’s Banking Act. These regulatory changes explicitly clarify that workers cannot be forcefully transferred to a new employer without first exercising their legally guaranteed right to make an active election about their future employment status.
Under the updated labor framework spelled out in Sections C40 and C44 of the amended Labour Code, workers are now eligible to receive severance pay not only in cases of traditional redundancy, but also during scenarios involving the sale of business assets, transfer of company shares, handover of business operations, or any other disposal of a business to a successor employer. Massiah outlined the two clear options that every affected worker is legally entitled to choose from.
The first option allows employees to accept a severance payout from the current, pre-acquisition employer, which would formally end their employment relationship with the existing entity. Any continued work for the new Butterfield-led ownership would then require a brand new employment offer negotiated under current labor standards. The second alternative permits workers to decline the offered severance and retain their employment with the successor institution. In this scenario, all existing employment benefits, accrued rights, job privileges, tenure, and continuous service records must be fully preserved and transferred intact to the new employer.
Complementing these labor code provisions, the amendment to the Banking Act adds an additional layer of protection for finance sector workers: any employee that chooses to continue their employment with the acquiring bank must retain employment terms and conditions that are at least as favorable as those in place immediately before the ownership transfer is completed.
A core demand put forward by Massiah is that every impacted worker must receive a clear, genuine, and reasonable window of opportunity to make their informed election between the two options: accepting severance and ending their current employment, or retaining their role with the new owner without taking a severance payout. The General Secretary has pushed for CIBC to fully adhere to the existing statutory framework, and most critically, to formally notify every affected worker in writing of all their legal rights and available options under both the Labour Code and Banking Act.
Massiah reiterated that the ABWU expects full transparency, good-faith consultation with union leadership, and timely ongoing communication at every stage of the proposed acquisition. This includes all matters that impact the union’s collective bargaining units as well as both statutory and collective bargaining rights held by workers. He emphasized that the worker protections codified in these laws were intentionally passed by the Antigua and Barbuda Parliament specifically to prevent workers from losing their hard-earned accrued rights and benefits when a business or financial institution is sold or transferred to new ownership.
“In closing, the Union therefore expects full compliance with both the spirit and letter of the legislation throughout this entire transaction process,” Massiah wrote in the formal letter. Moving forward, the ABWU has confirmed it will maintain close ongoing monitoring of all developments related to the proposed acquisition to ensure that the rights, interests, and professional dignity of every affected worker are fully protected through the completion of the deal.
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Camper & Nicholsons, Port Louis Marina vacancy: Security Guard
A prominent Grenadian maritime facility, Port Louis Marina operated by Camper & Nicholsons, has officially announced an open call for qualified candidates to fill an available Security Guard position, with applications set to close in June 2026.
As an unarmed security professional at the marina, successful applicants will take on a broad range of core responsibilities designed to protect the facility, its personnel, visitors, and assets. Core duties include conducting regular foot and vehicle patrols across both interior and exterior designated areas of the premises, monitoring access points to control entry and exit from company grounds and restricted security zones, and verifying the credentials of all individuals seeking access to secure areas.
Security staff will also be tasked with continuous monitoring of closed-circuit television systems and on-site alarm detectors, documenting daily activities and incidents in official written reports, and proactively deterring criminal behavior and policy violations across the property. When irregular or unsafe conditions are detected—from unauthorized activity to fire hazards—guards will be required to trigger appropriate alarms and contact emergency services including police and fire departments as needed. In cases involving potential immigration compliance issues, security personnel will alert relevant government authorities and coordinate with senior marina management for guidance.
Additional responsibilities include addressing rule violations by issuing warnings to individuals found loitering, smoking in restricted zones, or carrying prohibited items; monitoring departing staff and visitors to prevent theft of company and client property; conducting prompt investigations into all accidents, suspicious incidents, and abnormal activity; and assisting customers, employees, and guests with a courteous, professional demeanor at all times. The role also requires staff to complete any additional duties outlined in official post orders as assigned by management.
To be considered for the position, candidates must meet several formal requirements. Applicants must hold a valid high school diploma or an equivalent educational qualification, and have a minimum of two years of prior relevant experience working in a corporate security setting that requires regular direct interaction with customers and clients. Candidates must also demonstrate proven proficiency operating standard security equipment, including two-way radios, telephone systems, and security console monitors, alongside strong interpersonal and communication skills to interact politely and effectively with members of the public.
Compensation for the role will be determined based on each candidate’s relevant qualifications and professional experience.
All applications must be submitted to the Human Resource Manager of Camper & Nicholsons Grenada Services Ltd, located at Port Louis Marina, MB9012 Kirani James Boulevard, St George’s, Grenada. Interested candidates may also send application materials via email to [email protected]. The closing date for all applications is June 12, 2026.
The publishing outlet, NOW Grenada, has noted that it does not take responsibility for opinions, statements, or third-party content shared by contributors, and provides a reporting channel for users to flag abusive content.
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Calvin Ayre Foundation Supports Two Urgent Medical Transfers Through Partnership with MBS and CalvinAir
Two residents facing life-threatening cardiac emergencies have received a second chance at survival, thanks to a coordinated partnership between three regional organizations that removed critical barriers to accessing specialized treatment unavailable locally.
Arthur James and Kenneth Edwards both suffered acute cardiac events that required intervention far beyond the capabilities of local healthcare facilities. Recognizing the time-sensitive nature of their conditions, the Calvin Ayre Foundation (CAF), the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS), and private aviation provider CalvinAir moved quickly to arrange emergency medical transfers for the pair to Martinique, where specialized cardiac care is accessible.
For James, who needed urgent invasive intervention after a severe heart attack, the cost of his specialized medical procedures was fully covered by the MBS. CAF and CalvinAir handled the logistics of the urgent cross-border transfer, coordinating with medical teams on both ends to ensure no critical delays disrupted his care. Edwards, who also required urgent out-of-country intervention following his own cardiac event, was transferred alongside James, cutting down on logistics time and getting both patients to care faster.
In the wake of the successful transfer, the families of both patients shared their profound gratitude for the rapid, coordinated support they received. James and his family noted that the intervention from the partnering groups came at their darkest moment, giving them renewed hope and ensuring James could access the life-saving treatment he needed immediately.
Valerie Edwards, Kenneth Edwards’ sister, echoed that praise, highlighting the relentless work of all involved organizations from the moment her brother was admitted to the local hospital. She emphasized that the seamless collaboration between local medical providers, the MBS, CalvinAir, and CAF made a direct, life-saving difference that her family will never forget.
Patrice Jacobs, media and production associate at CAF, reaffirmed the foundation’s long-standing commitment to supporting local residents facing urgent, out-of-the-ordinary medical needs. “When serious medical emergencies arise, access to timely treatment can be life changing,” Jacobs explained. “We are grateful to work alongside MBS and CalvinAir to help ensure that patients receive the specialized care they need when local options are unavailable.”
The successful transfer and treatment arrangement for the two patients stands as a powerful example of what collective action around a shared humanitarian goal can achieve. By partnering to remove logistical and financial barriers to critical care, the cross-organizational collaboration has given both patients the best possible chance at a full recovery.
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Penny: Govt trying to justify another SoE
In a charged address to supporters of the People’s National Movement (PNM) at the Bon Air West Community Centre in Arouca Thursday evening, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has laid out a bold accusation against the ruling administration: the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led government is deliberately laying groundwork to extend the country’s existing state of emergency, a measure set to expire in roughly two weeks. The central flashpoint for this criticism is a recently issued legal notice that creates 15 designated no-protest zones, banning public demonstrations within 500 meters of high-profile State facilities including the national Parliament (the Red House) and the Police Administration Building. Beckles frames this new restriction as nothing less than a deliberate campaign of intimidation aimed at ordinary citizens.
Beckles further claimed that Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar was aware of the planned no-protest zones before the regulations were formally signed by Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro and publicly released on Wednesday, questioning the transparency of the government’s decision-making process around the new rules. The restrictions were enacted hours before one high-profile arrest: protest organizer Alyssa Phillip was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon on Richmond Street in Port of Spain, near the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, during a demonstration supporting Kaia Sealy. Sealy is currently facing criminal charges connected to the January police-involved shooting death of her husband, Joshua Samaroo, and protesters have been demanding clarity on the legal proceedings against her.
Shortly after the protest, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar publicly pushed back against the demonstrators, accusing them of intentionally provoking police and seeking unnecessary media attention. Beckles seized on this timing to raise questions about the chain of command behind the new restrictions: the Prime Minister had commented on the prohibited protest areas before the official document was released to the public, and the police only held a public explanatory press conference on Thursday. “That is kind of strange, so who really guarding the guards?” Beckles asked attendees, arguing the government is underestimating the public’s ability to recognize what she calls a deliberate tactic to create a pretext for extending the state of emergency.
Beckles questioned the democratic credentials of the current administration, arguing the quick crackdown on minor protest activity reveals a broader effort to strip citizens of their fundamental rights. “This Government is now saying to the people of Trinidad and Tobago that you don’t really have any freedom,” she said, emphasizing that peaceful public protest is a long-recognized democratic right deeply ingrained in Trinidad and Tobago’s civic culture. She pointed to a long history of public demonstrations, including previous marches organized by trade unions to the Diplomatic Centre, asking what the country’s powerful trade union movement will make of the new restrictions.
“Every right-thinking citizen of Trinidad and Tobago should understand that the concept we had of democracy and freedom of speech no longer exists under this UNC Government,” Beckles stated. “When a Prime Minister begins treating peaceful citizens as though they are enemies of the State, every citizen should understand one thing: the nation deserves answers from Kamla Persad-Bissessar.” She added that the arrest of organizers like Phillip and Jason De Silva, paired with the government’s reliance on emergency powers, proves the administration lacks a viable plan to address crime and can only govern through indefinite state of emergency measures.
Opposition Senator Larry Lalla joined Beckles in criticizing the government, arguing that the country has effectively been trapped in a permanent state of emergency under the current administration. Lalla noted that existing Trinidadian law already contains clear, balanced frameworks for regulating public protest: organizers are only required to provide 48 hours written notice to the Police Commissioner for public meetings, who must provide a formal justification if he chooses to ban an event, while public marches require prior commissioner approval. He argued that the blanket ban on protests around 15 key state institutions, including Parliament, is an overreach that does not qualify as a proportionate use of the emergency powers granted under the existing state of emergency.
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Phillip, mom join protest after release
Nearly 48 hours after three activists were taken into police custody during a demonstration calling for accountability in the Kaia Sealy case, hundreds of supporters reassembled on a weekday afternoon near Port of Spain’s Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park. The gathering’s key organizers — Alyssa Phillip, who heads the protest movement, and her mother Camille Caresquero — were able to attend just hours after they were released from police detention on personal recognizance bonds.
In a sharp contrast to the confrontational clashes and arrests that marked Wednesday’s demonstration, Thursday’s assembly concluded without any conflict or detentions, even as law enforcement deployed a heavy, multi-unit presence across the surrounding area. Officers moved barricades into position shortly before 3 p.m., blocking all vehicle and pedestrian access to Barbados Road from the Long Circular Road intersection. Members of the press and general public were ordered to retreat from the area surrounding the barricades, with only Federation Park residents granted access to the restricted stretch of road. When pressed by reporters for an explanation for the sweeping access restrictions, on-site officers stated they were only following superior orders and declined to share further details.
A notable detail that drew public and press attention during the deployment was the sighting of multiple officers wearing black baseball caps emblazoned with the logo of *The Punisher*, the popular Marvel Comics antihero. When asked about the controversial insignia by reporters from the *Express*, officers offered only that it was “just a cap with a particular emblem on it” before refusing further comment. The insignia has been a source of ongoing public debate in Trinidad and Tobago for months, after Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro retained the logo on his official uniform despite widespread criticism. Guevarro has previously defended the emblem as an award he received for participation in an international law enforcement operation. Guevarro was not present at Thursday’s demonstration, but two of the service’s top commanders — Deputy Commissioner Suzette Martin and Assistant Commissioner Richard Smith — were on-site overseeing officer deployments and crowd management. The multi-unit deployment included officers from the Mounted Branch, Guard and Emergency Branch, the police Task Force, and both the Western and Port of Spain Divisions.
As crowds slowly gathered along the open stretch of Long Circular Road, demonstrators adopted a deliberate, peaceful form of protest to push back against what they describe as the silencing of public calls for justice: dozens of participants placed adhesive tape over their mouths, many hand-writing messages demanding action on the tape itself. Activist Wendell Eversley’s tape bore the word “silent”, while a second message across his chest read “justice must be served”. Another protester wrote Joshua on their gag — a reference to Joshua Samaroo, who was killed by 19 police bullets, the detail that organizers centered in the demonstration’s structure. When Phillip arrived just after 4 p.m., she wore a face mask completely covered in duct tape, with the words “cops say shhh” printed in bold red ink across the tape, a direct rebuke of recent attempts to contain protest activity.
After assembling along the western pavement of Long Circular Road, participants opened the demonstration with a community prayer led by Caresquero, before launching into 19 minutes of complete silence — one minute for each bullet fired at Samaroo. Caresquero opened the event by thanking attendees for their turnout, and offered prayers for police officers who “still had integrity in their hearts and understood the just causes of accountability and democracy”. “We pray that our silent protest, where we will be silent for 19 minutes, represents the 19 bullets that Joshua got,” she told the crowd. Throughout the silent demonstration, participants held their hands overhead in the iconic “hands up, don’t shoot” posture associated with global police accountability movements, while several demonstrators knelt on the pavement in a gesture of protest. Officers repeatedly warned attendees and reporters throughout the event to keep the pedestrian walkway clear, and even deployed a mobile detention bus to the site as a precaution.
After the 19-minute silent period concluded, Phillip led a second prayer, addressing the broader state of policing and violence in the country. “Lord, our nation is bleeding, and we need your help. Hear our cries,” she said. “Help the people to know that our voices matter, and not just our voices but our actions. Because when we cannot speak, when we are not allowed to speak, when we are prohibited from speaking, our actions matter.” She called on both the Police Service and national government to uphold their commitments to democracy and reject all forms of violence, adding: “We are hurting and bleeding as a nation. Not just from violence from some of the members of our Police Service but violence among our citizens. Lord, we rebuke violence, no matter where it comes from.”
Speaking briefly to reporters after the formal program, Caresquero emphasized that the protest was intentionally organized to comply with all police instructions while still delivering a clear demand for change. “The representation for today, in terms of coming out, is to show what happened before and what happened now—we cannot remain silent,” she said. “That is what they like. We gave them what they would like, and we followed the instructions. But freedom of speech has to go on. So we gave a silent message.” She added that organizers hoped authorities would finally acknowledge and address the widespread public concern over police accountability that drew the crowd to the site. “The people want to speak to them and the people have something to say, and we want that they listen,” she said.
One protester, Jasson Noel, pushed back against the scale of the police deployment, arguing that the large show of force amounted to tactical intimidation of peaceful demonstrators. He questioned why so many officers were reassigned to monitor the protest when the city faces ongoing violent crime challenges. “There’s always reports of robberies and home invasions and all kind of thing. Real crime with guns. But you all here. Why so many of you all here? For people who have camera and voice?” Noel asked. By approximately 5 p.m., the demonstration dispersed peacefully, with no confrontations, arrests or incidents reported by either police or organizers.