Dangriga Protests Crime Spike; Police Offer Assurances

This coming Thursday, there will be a peaceful demonstration in the evening in Dangriga. There were two murders and a shooting incident in a week’s span, sparking action from concerned residents and stakeholders. The decision to hold a demonstration came from a town meeting featuring participation from police, political offices, youth and community organizations and the family of one of the victims, Gabriel “Tex” Laurie Junior, among others. Deputy Commissioner of Police Chester Williams today welcomed the residents’ initiative and promised police will both keep order and solve the recent incidents.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations)

“I have directed our Major Crimes Unit from Belmopan to go down to Dangriga, they have been there from last week Wednesday; assisting with the investigation of those murders in that municipality. We also understand that the residents of Dangriga are planning a protest on Thursday of this week, where they will be demonstrating against the increase of crime within their municipality. We welcome those sorts of activities and the police will be there to police that event. But I want to assure the residents of Dangriga, that the Belize Police Department will be doing all we can to restore that sense of safety in the Culture Capital that they are accustomed to. It may take a little while; I won’t say a long while, because we are already in the process of doing what needs to be done to restore normalcy in Dangriga. And so I am going to tell them that they will be seeing increase in police activities within that municipality and we want to ask the public in that area to cooperate with the police as much as they can, with a view to see how we can assist them in ensuring that their municipality returns to where it used to be, where they feel comfortable, moving around how they want.”

The demonstration is set to move off from in front of the Drums of Our Fathers monument in the Culture Capital at five p.m. and will make its way through the main streets of Dangriga to the B.T.L. Princess Royal Park for a town hall meeting.