As night falls riot intensifies

Our cameraman Brent Toombs is just back with us. He was stationed at the Belcan Bridge this evening, and he is going to bring us up to date on what is happening at the Belcan Bridge.

Janelle Chanona
?Brent, what?s the latest??

Brent Toombs
?Well Stephen Ferguson, our driver and tonight my bodyguard, big up to Stephen right off the top. We left about twenty minutes ago and when we left the situation didn?t look good. The police, and as I understand, the riot squad, is supposed to be joining the police, but when we were there it is was just the Special Patrol Unit had moved around to the far side of the Belcan Bridge from where we were, the side by the City Centre. I think with the intention of trying to drive the crowd back towards Save-U Supermarket and that area, drive them into a more open space, trying to disperse them from there. But as I said, we left about twenty minutes ago and the crowd was still there, they were burning tires and the situation was nothing less the volatile. I think Rick has some footage for us to look at here. This is when Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow arrived. At this point the mood really changed. Before that the students and other supporters were conducting themselves in the typical non-violent confrontation style, they were singing the national anthem, they were chanting. But at this point, the crowd started to say something about Channel 5?s presence being there, that they didn?t want us there, that we were there for Musa and they wanted Channel 7. And so things got really weird at this point. And with darkness coming on at the same time, you can see here they are trying to prevent us from getting a shot of Dean Barrow, I?m not sure why. But at this point as darkness started to come on, the mood definitely shifted. As you can see here, Crispin Jeffries having a little altercation with this woman he?s had a brush up with this afternoon, and showing the teargas. Now no teargas was deployed while we were there, not that we saw.?

Janelle Chanona
?But is he threatening to release that gas??

Brent Toombs
?Yes. He?s letting the crowd know that he is prepared to use teargas to disperse them. But I don?t know what would have happened at that point if he had, because he didn?t have the manpower to back him up.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now is that a factor Brent, is the police outmanned at this point??

Brent Toombs
?They are at this point, what you?re seeing on the tape. Just a rough guesstimate, I would say that there were probably about twenty or less uniformed police showing a presence and the situation though was remarkably clam prior to this. The crowd was in the middle of the bridge and the police held their line and everybody sort of stayed on their own part of the bridge and there didn?t seem to be an air of confrontation. But at this point thing start to deteriorate pretty quickly and I don?t know if you can see it, but at this point a couple of projectiles come from the back of the crowd.?

Janelle Chanona
?I hear glass.?

Brent Toombs
?Yeah. Bottles came, small pieces of cement, and shortly after this you?ll see the next…?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Brent while we?re waiting for the shot to come up, is there at this point any demands being broadcast? Are the people on the bridge saying exactly what they want??

Brent Toombs
?That?s the thing. As we saw in your story with the students, I don?t know that at that point a lot of the crowd knew why they were there. I think it just became that mob mentality that broke out. You know you heard everything from we want Musa to resign to give us B.T.L., but the real difference between this situation–and I was at Tower Hill a couple years ago, the frightening difference between these two situations is that they had some actual demands that they were trying to negotiate with. They said we want the bus to run, we want this et cetera, et cetera. This crowd that is out there right now, they don?t have a list of demands, so I don?t know what the police can do to negotiate with them.?

Janelle Chanona
?No we are looking at the catalyst for this afternoon?you know in these heightened tensions anything can trigger off. We understand that an incident between Jeffries and the woman with a car may have triggered this afternoon?s violence??

Brent Toombs
?We arrived shortly after the alleged incident, so I can?t say for a fact what happened, although I saw evidence of the car being damaged and she gave Patrick Jones and interview where she was accusing Crispin Jeffries of assaulting her. I was not witness to that so we are only going by what she told us in an interview earlier. But even despite that situation, at four-thirty, the tie you?re talking about, the mood wasn?t that bad. Now this is about closer to about six-thirty, about the time this newscast started, and as you can see, people are now angry and they are confronting Jeffries openly and he?s doing his best to try and let them vent and hopefully work it out, but this is when things really start to deteriorate and some projectiles start to get thrown. Shortly after this, as you will see in the next shot, the police actually at one point, leave the bridge, I think hoping that the crowd, if given the opportunity will disperse on their own. This gentleman here apparently is the father of the young lady who had the alleged incident with Jeffries earlier in the day and he was quite upset and I?m quite surprised the police didn?t arrest him there.?

Janelle Chanona
?So is Jeffries being cocooned by special unit officers? Is he in a cocoon there??

Brent Toombs
?Sort of. There are a few people around him, but he is just kind in the middle of the crowd and standing his ground, much braver man than I am, I must say.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Brent, in a lot of these situations as we have been seeing in the last couple months, they have all pointed, or a number of people have all pointed that Crispin Jeffries presence on the front lines, and I know the Police Department has championed him as their ?riot man? but his actions, certainly over the last couple of months have had him to be put in a very bad light with the public. Is this factoring at all to the violence that you see erupting here??

Brent Toombs
?Well, who am I to say what the police strategy should be, but I do think that Mr. Jeffries presence tonight is probably making a bad situation even worse because the mob is looking for somebody to vent against them, so he is taking the brunt of their anger right now. I?m not defending what has been alleged that he had done earlier in the day, so they might have every reason to be upset, but probably somebody else may want to look at taking over this situation right now and trying to diffuse it.? As soon as Rick can cue up the next piece of video we have you?ll see how the police sort of retreat and they begin to don their riot gear. I understand that at this point they were hoping that the crowd would take this as an opportunity to disperse on their own, which they didn?t. As you can see, the police have completely retreated and it?s only protesters on the bridge right now and at this point some rocks and bottles are being hurled towards the Farmer?s Market, which is where Stephan and myself have retreated to. It was just getting too dangerous to be any closer than that.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Brent you bring up the danger aspect, are a lot of bystanders just looking on at this or is everybody we see out there supporting this action on the bridge??

Brent Toombs
?No, I think the hardcore supporters are on the bridge. The people who were around us were curious onlookers. But I think everybody sort of shared the same sense that it?s definitely a volatile situation to say the least, and all of us that were down by the Farmer?s Market area, we were very concerned about our own safety, because once the police start to move those people out we don?t know what will happen. And with the cover of darkness, it getting late…?

Janelle Chanona
?Now I understand the Special Patrol Unit comes into the scene at this point.?

Brent Toombs
?Yeah. These are some of the members of the Special Patrol Unit, and I?m not sure if these were some of the same officers who were maintaining the line on the bridge earlier, but now you can see they?re starting to put on some of their riot gear and I believe those are teargas canisters. What you won?t see, we were unable to get of shot of is after they equip themselves, rather than maintain a position on the Save-U or Farmer?s Market side of the bridge where we were, they actually went to the other side of the Belcan Bridge. And it was reported to us that?s what happened anyways?they went to the other side of the Belcan Bridge, I guess with the intention of driving the crowd back over.?

Janelle Chanona
?Brent are there any children? Are you seeing any children, because earlier we saw a lot of young boys and girls on the bridge??

Brent Toombs
?Well the last time I was on the bridge was about six-thirty tonight, that shot you saw when Dean Barrow was on the bridge, and there were children there, there were young students, I?d say some around ten, eleven years old. But what was disconcerting to me tonight was some of the crowd by the Farmer?s Market bringing small children and you?re wondering if a full fledge riot breaks out what?s going to happen because once that crowd starts to advance over the bridge, where?s everybody going to go. It?s a very serious situation out there.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now you bring back memories of Tower Hill, I understand that they also used tyres tonight as they did in Orange Walk.?

Brent Toombs
?Yeah. That?s the last shot we have from tonight. They had set up three piles of tyres across the bridge and they had lit them on fire. Now ironically this might actually work to the police?s advantage in a way because it?s forming a barricade on one side of the bridge. So it doesn?t give the people that escape route, as least as far as them throwing missiles and trying to retreat or something. But the other problem now is if the police try to move them where are these people going to go and they set up a fire behind them. It?s going to be very hard for them to evacuate.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Brent as you left, what is anticipated as the next step? Is this a fluid situation, can anything happen out there, or have the police anticipated, did they let you in on…?

Brent Toombs
?No. they are not going to let us in on any of their strategy or anything, basically just going on my own impressions and what I saw. I think the police are trying to let this situation dissolve itself. This situation started around four o?clock this afternoon and about seven-fifteen we left and the crowd was still there. The police showed and awful lot of patience I must say, that could be because they didn?t have the manpower to deal with them, so maybe they?re just stalling until they can get the full riot squad in a move the crowd out. But I think they are hoping that the people will just get tired and go home, but I don?t think that?s going to happen. They are pretty worked up out there right now, so anything can happen.?

Janelle Chanona
?For you, I know you?ve been in some tense situations before, but as it gets darker out there, is it getting scarier??

Brent Toombs
?Oh absolutely. That?s the worse thing. At Tower Hill at least you can see when the rocks are coming at you, you can?t see anything [out there]. And once it gets dark and someone throws a beer bottle at you, you can?t see it coming until its too late. And the other problem I think is that the bravado kicks in as it gets darker, you feel like you can get away with anything and I think it?s a very?I hate to keep using the word volatile, but that?s exactly what it is, a volatile situation and right now the police have a real mess on their hands trying to deal with what?s going on the bridge.?

Janelle Chanona
?Thank you very much Brent.?