Confrontation expands to Belcan Bridge

If you have been tuning in to live radio, you may be aware of a violent confrontation taking place on the Belcan Bridge in Belize City as protesters clash with police. News Five?s Patrick Jones is just back from the scene.

Janelle Chanona
?Patrick, what can you tell us is happening there??

Patrick Jones
?Janelle, a tense standoff between students, supporters of the United Democratic Party and the police has effectively closed down traffic on the Belcan Bridge around 4:45 thereabout this afternoon. When we arrived there the students and the supporters had already taken up position on the bridge proper and no traffic was being allowed to pass either way. The police, led by Senior Superintendent Crispin Jeffries, was called in and he started to try to get the people to move off from and bridge and clear the way so traffic could pass. But it wasn?t long after Mr. Jeffries started to try and clear up things that it soon became apparent that it was not something that was going to end easily as everyone thought. As a matter of fact, early into the whole standoff, a young lady actually accused Mr. Jeffries of roughing her up unnecessarily and breaking her car, breaking the front of her car. The young lady that that relayed to us her story is Nasima Reyes, and she is alleging that an overzealous Crispin Jeffries actually manhandled her on the bridge.?

Janelle Chanona
?Let me stop you there on second, we know that the students had a protest earlier today, was this car incident the catalyst for what is not happening on the bridge??

Patrick Jones
?Well apparently it started out, they are saying that the car or a vehicle, I don?t know if it?s that particular vehicle, had simple mechanical problems and stopped on the bridge. That is what they are saying, but this young lady told me in an interview that she was just driving, minding her own business, the bridge was blocked and her car came to a stop, as did other vehicles. She claimed that she attempted to get her vehicle out of the way, but that the police just moved in quickly and manhandled her, broke the front of her car, and she just wants something to be done about it now. She is angry at the police, and in particular Mr. Jeffries and wants him to make recompense for breaking her vehicle. Shortly we?re going to run video with her where she is going to show us bruises on her body and explain to us how Mr. Jeffries manhandled her.?

Nasima Reyes, Alleges Police Brutality
?I park yah so to gone look fi see what the happen. I see a police come move my vehicle, so I come back and I say, I wah move my vehicle, but they wah push me out ah the way, the choke me. Jeffries shove me inna my chest, he choke me, look pan mi neck, mi hands red. Look pan mi car, he mess up my car, I need a new car now.?

Patrick Jones
?So you were just minding your own business??

Nasima Reyes, Alleges Police Brutality
?Yes, I was minding my own business.?

Patrick Jones
?What do you want done now??

Nasima Reyes
I want they fix this. Look pan this! And I wah press charges because they knock me, a man knock me. He is supposed to be a grown man, right, and he is supposed to be a part of authority. Why he di show to everybody the abuse of women? He di choke me, I noh do nothing. Yes, I mi di offer fi move my vehicle right, he shove me out of the way.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Patrick, she is saying that she was manhandled. But is she saying that she was not a party to this protest; she was not showing her support by being on the bridge in the first place? It?s her story that she was totally innocent??

Patrick Jones
?That is her story, and she told me she was just minding her own business, whether that meant that she was a part of the protest or not, that wasn?t clear, I did not get that from her. She just said she was minding her own business and the police just came and did that to her. She was showing bruises on her chest, on her arms. And she is bruised as if though she has been in a struggle with somebody. I don?t know if it was Mr. Jeffries, because we got there after that incident happened. But that galvanised support for the protesters who were on the bridge. Because after they saw that incident, and when we got there, they were angrily throwing words at Mr. Jeffries and the police who were trying to reason with them to clear the bridge for traffic to flow. And that was the one thing I heard over and over, why Mr. Jeffries had to rough up a woman of all things.?

Janelle Chanona
?What is the initial instigators of the student protest today, the President of the U.B> student body, what are they saying at this point??

Patrick Jones
?Basically, it?s a continuation of what they told us yesterday. We see additional patrol unit officers arriving on the scene; they are going to go report to Mr. Broaster and Mr. Jeffries. The camera didn?t catch it there, but Mr. Jeffries was loading up his carryon pouch with teargas canisters and other stuff.?

Janelle Chanona
?So he obviously preparing for something along the lines of what we say in front of the National Assembly in January.?

Patrick Jones
?Yes, he was preparing himself, and eerily what we saw as well while that was happening, the BERT ambulance drove onto the scene, parked right in front of Save-U and the emergency medical technicians got out and they came with their bags, their gloves and everything, ready to receive if there were any injuries. And they came and they stood on the bridge itself. And that was a sight that foretold or gave you the impression that something was going to happen. While I was standing on the bridge as well, I heard on one of the police radio, somebody saying: call City Council, tell them to come move the bridge, to swing the bridge; even though people are on the bridge. So it appeared at one point that it was going to reach a point where they were going to clear the bridge, even if it meant endangering everybody?s life who was on it by moving the bridge one way or the other.?

Janelle Chanona
?And I understand we have video showing that these students are obviously prepared to stay on the bridge and have a sit in. Have they indicated what their intentions are as far as maintaining something like this??

Patrick Jones
?They sat down at one point, there was a slight drizzle, or some rain that came and they just dug in their heels more. They sat down, that you just saw on the screen there was Renzie Franklin, the president of the SJC Junior College student body, accompanied by some other small children and some U.D.P. supporters right behind him. And even the rain didn?t force them to get up and move away. They sat down, and led by union leaders, I saw Zenaida Moya was there, and she was the one who actually got them to start a singing of the national anthem and they were joined by political aspirants for the United Democratic Party in getting the people, the students, the protesters to sing the national anthem.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Patrick, one of the things I?m noticing are these young children. Of course there are these adults, but there are a lot of young children on the scene. And as we see the police take their position, were you able to find out strategy, because obviously you can?t think of handling this situation in perhaps the same way as we saw in Belmopan on January twenty-first. Were you able to find out what the police strategy is at this point? Is it a kind of wait and see and a reaction as opposed to a proactive stance on the bridge??

Patrick Jones
?The police appear, from what I saw, because Mr. Jeffries is the kind of person the media can?t approach him. At a matter of fact at one point-I don?t know if the tape is going to come up shortly?you?re going to see where the officer actually came up and put his hands over the camera lens. I couldn?t speak to any of them out there, but apparently they are going from moment to moment. Mr. Jeffries is instructing them that we are going to start doing this, they drew that line with the officers and they were going to start marching forward and moving forward. And when the crowd got wind of what was happening, they said, well you?re gong to have to physically pick us up and move us, because some more of the people then sat down on the deck of the bridge itself. Mr. Jeffries continued to reason, there the teargas canister is in his hand, and he continues to try to reason with the people who were on the side. We had people who were just passing by, curious bystanders, and he was trying to get them off the bridge. Some complied, but some, spurred on by the protesters and the union leaders, and political people out there, decided that they are going to disobey the order to move.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now Patrick, as it?s getting darker out there, that situation has to be getting more tense. On the radio we were hearing that the protesters were collecting rocks and preparing or the opportune moment to strike, and obviously the police are getting ready for that. What can you tell us as far as advisories being put out? Is the public being told yet to try to stay away from that area or would that have a negative repercussion??

Patrick Jones
?Well I don?t think–I haven?t heard the police advising people not to come on the scene or not to go out there. But I would say though the wise thing would be for people to stay away from the area. Businesses in the area started to close early; they pulled down the shutters on their business. Save-U, which usually opens until around seven or eight in the night, closed early and pulled down the shutters I guess, anticipating that there would be violence or something that would negatively affect their business. But certainly, what I observed, and the feeling I got out there, is that the situation with Mr. Jeffries and his alleged brutality of the young lady, that was fuelling a part of the resistance out there.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now that?s been an allegation for a while, that he?s been a kind of an instigator for violence. This is from the beginning of the year, was that sentiment echoed again today on the bridge??

Patrick Jones
?It was echoed today on the bridge, and certainly the incident with the young lady galvanised what everybody has been saying. So I am no advisor to the police or to whoever is in charge of law enforcement out there, but I think a big part of resolving the stalemate or the standoff or to prevent it from getting much more out of hand will be to probably remove Mr. Jeffries from the frontline. Even if he remains in command, move him maybe into a vehicle or somewhere away from the scene. Mr. Williams, the head of CIB was on the bridge just when we got there, but I don?t know what Mr. Williams said to any of the officers who were near Mr. Jeffries, but I personally overheard Mr. Jeffries basically shouting to Mr. Williams that I am in charge here, these officers will listen to me, if you want to go you go or what have you. But it wasn?t the kind of session or exchange that I though senior officers should have displayed out there in the middle or a protest, in the middle of a standoff. Two senior officers arguing about who had control over there. Now certainly, as the officer in charge of Eastern Division, Mr. Jeffries clearly is the superior officer there, but my advice, or in my judgement he should be removed or remove himself, even just to the background. He can still be somewhere in the vicinity directly traffic over the radio or what have you, but his mere presence out there is angering a lot of people.?

Janelle Chanona
?And I think those feelings are what may be taking more people to the bridge, this crowd will very likely swell as people come out to express their own feelings. Is the riot squad on the ready??

Patrick Jones
I have not seen any of them out there with the gears and what have you, but certainly another vehicle had arrived and parked further down by the roundabout and clearly brought more officers out there. But what I definitely, as we heard words going around that people say, Jeffries already had the tear gas, they were focussing on Jeffries and waiting for Mr. Jeffries to make another move, whatever that is, maybe physically lay his hand on somebody else, and that is going to be cause enough for them to start throwing objects and what have you. I heard another lady saying as well, just wait until the young lady?s parents or her father finds out what Jeffries did to his daughter and they are going to see real trouble. So that is the kind of tense situation that is on the bridge even as we speak. Mr. Broaster is out there, he is taking his cue from Mr. Jeffries, but clearly Jeffries remains the point-man on the bridge.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now we have a cameraman stationed at the bridge as we continue this broadcast and he will be coming back to studios as soon as possible to bring us up to date on what has been happening since we started to broadcast. Patrick do you have anything else you want to highlight about this whole situation tonight??

Patrick Jones
?Janelle, in the crowd we saw a mixture of students from the University of Belize, from St. John?s Junior College, there were some students from some of the high schools, an as well there were some primary school children. But I did not get the feeling that those were primary school children that were removed from school, particularly to go out to the scene. I take they were just children who were passing by on the bridge that stopped to see what was going on. You see some of them still in uniform, sitting down on their bicycles and what have you on the deck of the bridge. It is a situation that bears careful watch and to see how it will end because the level of anger at the police, and in particular one policeman out there is definitely ripe for anything to happen and we wouldn?t want to see anybody getting hurt unnecessarily. This whole protest today a continuation of what started earlier in the day, and a continuation of what started yesterday when students of U.B. and S.J.C. decided that they will throw their support behind the workers of Belize Telecommunications Limited. We spoke with the Special Senator to the U.B. body, Mr. Philip Willoughby and he said that the students are prepared to do whatever is necessary, including cutting class. We had no idea that they would actually go out and go practically door to door to other schools and getting people out there. This is when Zenaida Moya led them in the singing of the national anthem; there she is, along with the UDP aspirant for I guess City Council elections. And while they were singing the anthem, you saw our lens is getting some drops of rain. That is when the rain started to come down. And right after they sang the national anthem, they sat back down on the bridge, a group of police officers moved to the right of them, and went to the opposite side of the bridge, and so the standoff continues. This is going to basically end the bit of footage that we have here. As you said Janelle, our cameraman remains at the scene, and we don?t know what he will come back with later on in this newscast.?

Janelle Chanona
?Thank you very much Patrick.?