Over 1,300 Persons Charged So Far for S.O.E. Violations

Michael Peyrefitte

For more than a month now, Belize has not reported any new COVID-19 cases, but a state of emergency remains in place until June and a curfew is in place from eight p.m. to five a.m.; for children they cannot to be out between six p.m. and six a.m.  Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams shared that more than one thousand three hundred persons have been arrested since March for violating the law, including not wearing masks and illegally entering the country. Minister of National Security, Michael Peyrefitte said that forty-eight were detained and charged overnight.

Michael Peyrefitte, Minister of National Security

“I can’t believe I got the report; forty-eight people last night curfew. Forty-eight people in the country did not respect the curfew. I mean, come on, we need to work with each other. We don’t want to go back to the days when we were extra strict, but if we have to, we will.”

Dorian Pakeman, Director, Government Press Office

“How many people have been charged so far in relation to state of emergency violations?”

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“It’s around one thousand three hundred.”

Dorian Pakeman

“Wow! Wow! And that’s over the course of six weeks?”

Chester Williams

“Since the twenty-fourth of March.”