Call for calm as police, protesters clash

WASHINGTON (CMC):

The chairman of the subregional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda, on Tuesday called for calm and the adherence to the rule of law in Dominica as the island prepares to hold a general election on December 6.

In a brief statement, Browne said “calm, an end to violence, and other disruptive activity are essential to ensuring that the general election in Dominica is conducted in an atmosphere free of fear”.

On Monday night, police fired teargas to disperse people who had gathered outside the residence of President Charles Savarin demanding electoral reform ahead of the general election.

Police have erected barriers leading to the residence and some of the protesters, including at least one opposition legislator, Danny Lugay, were descending on the residence of the president after attending a public meeting on the outskirts of the capital where the issue of electoral reform had been discussed.

The ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP), headed by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, is seeking a fifth consecutive term in office. It will be challenged by the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), led by Opposition Leader Lennox Linton. The other opposition party, the Dominica Freedom Party, has said it would not be contesting the polls, but would lend support to the UWP.

In the 2014 general election, the DLP won 15 of the 21 seats in the Parliament, with the remainder going to the UWP.

In a radio and television broadcast earlier on Tuesday, Skerrit ”strongly” condemned the protest action and called on the UWP to distance itself from the violence taking place in the lead-up to the general election.

Skerrit said that Dominica has a history of “free and fair elections” and that every Dominican can attend the activities of any political party “and is free to vote as they so choose”.

“This election should be and would be no different unless the UWP is determined to introduce a new level of danger, violence, risk and damage to persons, to property and to Dominica’s reputation in the international community.

“I appeal to our churches, civic organisations, and law-abiding Dominicans … and those in the diaspora to condemn this despicable behaviour,” Skerrit said.

In his statement, the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, who is in the United States leading a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegation to a US Congress Round Table on de-risking and corresponding banking, said he was calling “on all parties to respect the law of Dominica and the constitutional provisions for holding general elections that reflect the will of the people”.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Daniel Carbon said that some of the demonstrators “were deliberately taunting” police officers on Monday night as he praised his men for showing restraint and ensuring law and order.

He said the actions of the protesters were designed to escalate the situation and that a “determined clique inserted to deliberately cause trouble incited extreme actions meant to cause the breakdown of public order and injury to people and property”.