There Will Be No More Curfew

Michael Peyrefitte

The end of the state of emergency is in sight; it expires this Tuesday.  Today, the Attorney General announced what many Belizeans have also been waiting for, ‘there will be no more curfew.’ On Ask the Experts today, Michael Peyrefitte announced the government’s plan to lift the curfew as of July first. The curfew has been in place since the S.O.E. was implemented three months ago. As active COVID-19 cases stayed on the low side and the Ministry of Health got a handle of the situation, cabinet in consultation with the National Oversight Committee, gradually relaxed the S.O.E. measures. Peyrefitte says that members of the public are now free to roam at any time of the day and night.  But while the curfew will be lifted, members of the public must only be moving with a purpose. And if you don’t have any legitimate purpose, you can be arrested by the police.

Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General

“The big thing when we wake up July first, this Wednesday there will be no more curfew. To the chagrin of the Police Department and the Ministry of National Security apparatus there will be no more curfew. So we are free to roam as we want to roam in terms of time but remember, I want to make this very, very clear there will be no more curfew but under the law even before COVID-10 and even up to now you must be moving with a purpose. So you can’t be wandering about the place aimlessly at one in the morning simply because there is no curfew. There is still on the books public morale laws which states that if you are wandering without a purpose at one in the morning you can be arrested and charge for that. If you a loitering you can be charged for that. If you are drunk in a public place you can be charged for that. So please understand that while there will be no more curfews for either children or adults there are laws that still govern people moving in public places and on the street and police will be enforcing those.”