P.U.P. Condemns Police’s Removal of Press at End of House Meeting

John Briceño

The ejection of the media from the gallery has also raised concerns in respect of the apparent abuse of authority by members of the police department.  Without verbal authorization from the Speaker of the House, police on duty inside the Assembly Building proceeded to forcibly remove reporters, cameramen and technicians from the balcony.  The media was well within its rights to stand ground and document what many describe as arguably the worst day in parliamentary history.  This afternoon, the P.U.P. soundly condemned the actions of the police in manhandling the media.

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

“We have approached our legal team to initiate court action for declarations and other relief concerning the Speaker’s high-handed illegal actions at the last house meeting.  Let me, as the Leader of the Opposition, condemn the disgraceful and abusive treatment of the media by the authorities at last Friday’s meeting.  The National Assembly is the people’s house; it is the place where we conduct the business of the nation.  So to have the media thrown out in such a violent manner was wrong.  There is no doubt it was clearly an intentional act designed by the U.D.P. to cover up the U.D.P.’s disgusting and illegal behavior which transpired after the media was forcibly removed from the National Assembly.  Brother Jules, I apologize to you and your team for the mishandling.  It was completely out of order, but as you said, they forget that cell phones now have video cameras so the world still saw how this government behaved with an honorable member of this National Assembly.  We in the People’s United Party take this very seriously and so hold the unelected police minister Godwin Hulse and his U.D.P. colleagues directly responsible for the behavior of the police department and call on all Belizeans to condemn the U.D.P. for what is certainly an attack on our Belizean democracy.”