Opposition protests G.O.B. policies
Depending on your political source the numbers will differ sharply, but the civilian consensus is that this morning, somewhere between three hundred and five hundred Belizeans took to the streets of Belize City and picketed the Prime Minister’s office to protest recent actions by government. Organised by the Opposition United Democratic Party, the demonstrators first convened at Battlefield Park. According to Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow, today’s event was an inevitable expression of major discontent.
Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“We are trying to send a signal to the Government that people are unhappy with the various problems that seem to have gotten worse since the last elections. We are talking particularly about the huge increases in new taxes, the proposed increase that’s almost a certainty now with respect to water rates, the fiasco with B.T.L. and the uncertainty as to whether that will result in increased domestic telephone rates, the problems with jobs, the people in the Data Pro Export Processing Zone; just a host of problems that we feel need to be focussed on and that we feel require us to send a message to the government.”
Janelle Chanona
“Tomorrow will make one year since this government has taken over. Are you realistically asking for them to resign at this point in their administration?”
Dean Barrow
“Yes, but that’s pro-forma, and perhaps instead of saying that the entire Government needs to resign now, we certainly have said that the Minister of Finance needs to resign. He is behind most of the things that we are complaining about. But this is only a beginning, we are going to be doing the same thing in several of the district towns, and later on this year we are going to culminate in a countrywide demonstration. At that juncture, depending on how much worse things have become, we believe that with a kind of full voice declaration, we can at that stage call seriously for the government to go.”
Janelle Chanona
“Are you satisfied with the turnout?”
Dean Barrow
“Absolutely. It’s a Wednesday morning mid-morning, this is Belize City and we know how difficult it is to mobilise people in Belize City. For the purposes that we are trying to achieve, we think this is fine.”
Following their march through the streets, the demonstrators regrouped at Battlefield Park for a series of speeches.
