“I see nothing wrong with blocking the bridge”

– APNU MP tells Linden inquiry

By Vahnu Manikchand

A Partnership for National Unity Member of Parliament Desmond Trotman told the Linden Commission of Inquiry on Monday that he did not consider the blocking of the Wismar-Mackenzie bridge during the July 18 unrest in the community to be unlawful.
He said the action by residents was necessary to call attention to their hardship. Trotman, giving his testimony before the commission, said on July 18 about 07: 45h he, along with others, left the APNU office in a minibus and headed to Linden, where they arrived around 09:15h. They then joined a procession in Wismar, which was heading to the Mackenzie/ Wismar Bridge.
He noted that when the procession arrived at the bridge, some of the people went over to the Mackenzie side, while some stayed on the bridge and others stayed on the Wismar side.

COI chairman Lensley Wolfe

Trotman continued that about 10:00h, he was on the bridge when he heard then E and F division commander, Senior Police Superintendent Clifton Hicken instructing some officers to load their guns and the driver of a police vehicle to drive rapidly towards the crowd standing on the Mackenzie end of the bridge. “The driver took off rapidly, but swerved aside before reaching the crowd.”
Trotman said he approached Hicken and asked him what he had hoped to achieve with his “intimidatory act” and the officer smiled.
The MP said later in the day, the police reinforcements from Georgetown arrived and stood on the road, after which they began advancing towards the bridge and persons there began chanting against the police. “Upon arriving at the bridge, the officers then retreated and left, after which the mood on the bridge was festive.”

“Pandemonium”
He said about 17:30h, the police ranks from Georgetown returned and hoisted a banner, but he could not see what was written on it nor could he hear what the police said through the loud speaker.

APNU MP Desmond Trotman

He noted that the officers began approaching the bridge and then fired tear gas, causing “pandemonium”, as people ran “helter skelter” and the police continued to fire tear gas.
The man said that he assisted some people along a footpath into the Linmine Compound where the police were firing tear gas, then he heard what he assumed to be gunshots.
He said about 17:50h, there was a blackout, during which “tear gas continued, gunshots continued, and the confusion was heightened”. Trotman was then cross examined by Jamaican Senior Counsel Keith Knight, who asked him “as a Member of Parliament wanting to ensure that good order is maintained in society whether he is of the view that blocking a bridge amounts to exemplary conduct”. The MP responded, saying that he will have to take into consideration the circumstances that led to the blocking of the bridge: the electricity hike imposed on the mining town and the government’s refusal to meet with the people of Linden upon their request.
He noted that “protest demonstrations around the world are always conducted at the place where the maximum impact is made, and I believe that it is in that situation that those people took the decision to block the bridge… for maximum impact”.
The chairman of the commission, Jamaica’s former Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe immediately asked Trotman whether he is suggesting that the government’s failure to do something entitles a person affected by that failure to break the law, and the MP hotly replied “I don’t consider the action of blocking the bridge breaking the law… I thought it was a necessary action at that particular point in time”.
Commissioner Knight then resumed questioning the witness on the terms and conditions of the approval granted for the march.