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Protesters beat pieces of metal and shout in Sandy Bay on Sunday. (IWN photo)
Protesters beat pieces of metal and shout in Sandy Bay on Sunday. (IWN photo)
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Some residents of Sandy Bay beat pieces of metal and other implements as the New Democratic Party (NDP) held a rally in the area with U.S.-based Garifuna leaders from Belize.

The rally was held as the NDP pushes ahead with its proposal to make all Garifunas honorary citizens of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) if the party wins the general elections later this year.

Some of the protesters, all of whom  were located some distance away from the location of the rally, were dressed in Unity Labour Party campaign t-shirts and shouted in support of the party.

None of them were willing to speak on camera.

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“Me nah know wha’ to say,” one woman told I-Witness News off-camera, adding, “Sharer dead”, a reference to the NDP’s candidate for North Windward, Lauron “Sharer” Baptiste.

Baptiste, a first-time candidate, is seeking to unseat the ULP’s Montgomery Daniel, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in office.

A view of the protestors from the site of the rally. (IWN photo)
A view of the protestors from the site of the rally. (IWN photo)

Speaking at Sunday’s rally, Baptiste, a former national cricketer, said he was born in Trench Town, the area of Sandy Bay were the rally was held.

He said he practised his fast bowling on the very spot where the rally was held.

“So I am a born Sandy Bay man, and nobody who we give a visa to, like Montgomery Daniel — because we give him a visa, he is originally from Point — could never run a Sandy Bay man out of Sandy Bay,” Baptiste said to cheers,” Baptiste said.

Visiting Garifuna leaders Professor Wellington Ramos and Joseph Guerrero along with Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace and agrarian Clive “Bish-I” Bishop also addressed the rally.

One reply on “Sandy Bay residents protest near Garifuna rally (+Video)”

  1. C. ben-David says:

    This protest just goes to show how the ethnic identity of the Garifuna has been nearly destroyed by the forces of colonialism, imperialism, and narrow-minded local politics.

    These “demonstrators” don’t even know that they are demonstrating against themselves and their own interests and well being.

    Uncle Toms of the Garifuna movement for self-awareness and self-determination, every one of them.

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