Caribbean Times 97th Issue - Tuesday 14th February 2017
Caribbean Times 97th Issue - Tuesday 14th February 2017
Caribbean Times 97th Issue - Tuesday 14th February 2017
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8 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g<br />
<strong>Tuesday</strong> <strong>14th</strong> <strong>February</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
Was there a Coup attempt in Dominica?<br />
PM says yes, opposition says no<br />
ROSEAU, Dominica – Charges and<br />
countercharges are making the rounds<br />
in Dominica as police continue investigations<br />
to get to the bottom of <strong>Tuesday</strong>’s<br />
violent disturbance following an<br />
anti-government protest, which resulted<br />
in the vandalism of nine businesses<br />
and 32 arrests.<br />
While Prime Minister Roosevelt<br />
Skerrit has revealed details of an alleged<br />
attempt by opposition parties to<br />
“seize the seat of power”, Opposition<br />
Leader Lennox Linton has dismissed<br />
the claim as “another lie” the Prime<br />
Minister has concocted to win the sympathy<br />
of Dominicans.<br />
In a national address last night, in<br />
which he painstakingly outlined the sequence<br />
of events leading up to the disturbance,<br />
Skerrit charged that it was the<br />
“militant, irresponsible behaviour of<br />
the leadership of the main opposition<br />
UWP and the Dominica Freedom Party<br />
(DFP) that triggered the action.<br />
The Prime Minister said police had<br />
been tipped off about a plan by opposition<br />
forces.<br />
“It is important for me to share with<br />
you the plan, which was relayed to intelligence<br />
personnel in the Dominica<br />
Police Force. Fortunately, for us all, not<br />
every member of the United Workers<br />
Party and Dominica Freedom Party is<br />
supportive of the militant, irresponsible<br />
behavior of the leadership. So, details<br />
of the plan had already been shared<br />
with the police and security officials,”<br />
Skerrit told the nation.<br />
“The police had information that<br />
the intent of the leadership was to stall<br />
the truck in front the Financial Centre<br />
and storm the barriers with the intent<br />
of entering the building. This was the<br />
intent of the leadership of the United<br />
Workers Party and the Dominica Free-<br />
Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelet<br />
Skerrit<br />
dom Party. This is how they intended to<br />
seize the seat of power in the country.<br />
They would have stormed the Financial<br />
Center Building and seek to occupy the<br />
building until their demands were met.”<br />
Earlier in the day, the opposition<br />
parties led supporters in what was supposed<br />
to be an 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. public<br />
meeting near the Financial Centre<br />
where Skerrit’s office is located.<br />
The Prime Minister said the meeting<br />
had proceeded “peacefully and<br />
consistent with the intent and spirit<br />
of the agreement reached between the<br />
police and the leaderships of the two<br />
opposition parties the day before”, but<br />
when Linton took control of the microphone<br />
around 2:50 p.m., “it changed<br />
the course of events and resulted in<br />
Dominica making world headlines all<br />
day today, and not for a good reason”.<br />
After the meeting was finished,<br />
Skerrit said, the driver of the truck in<br />
front of the Financial Centre was ordered<br />
by police to proceed west, but<br />
it could not be driven forward because<br />
a mob was blocking it, and the atmosphere<br />
of the crowd then started to deteriorate.<br />
“At about 6:30 p.m., the crowd<br />
started agitating and started chanting<br />
‘Skerrit must go’. In all this, the leadership<br />
of the UWP and DFP said or did<br />
nothing to contain the emotions of their<br />
supporters,” Skerrit said, noting that<br />
earlier Linton had spoken for an hour<br />
and 15 minutes after the agreed time<br />
indicating that the meeting would only<br />
end when he was ready.<br />
“This is when and where the cue<br />
was given for persons to do whatever<br />
they deemed necessary to forcibly and<br />
unlawfully remove a democratically<br />
elected government from office,” Skerrit<br />
said, adding that the events that later<br />
unfolded were “as a direct consequence<br />
and a result of the decision by Lennox<br />
Linton to say, in effect, ‘to hell with the<br />
police, we shall do as we please’.”<br />
However, speaking on radio this<br />
morning, Linton hit back, categorically<br />
denying there was a plan to overthrow<br />
the government.<br />
“There was no plan at all, no plan<br />
at all that Lennox Linton and the leadership<br />
of the United Workers Party is<br />
aware of, to storm the Financial Centre,”<br />
he stated.<br />
The UWP Leader also challenged<br />
the Prime Minister to reveal the source<br />
of his intelligence, maintaining that he<br />
had no knowledge of the alleged plot.<br />
“Lennox Linton, on behalf of the<br />
leadership of the UWP, is asking him<br />
to pull away the veil of intelligence and<br />
say specifically who was behind that<br />
plot,” he noted. “Call names, because<br />
whoever advised your intelligence<br />
would have told them where X or Y<br />
discussed that or told me that on such<br />
and such a time, ” Dominica News Online<br />
reported.<br />
Linton was adamant since yesterday,<br />
that the looting and violence on<br />
<strong>Tuesday</strong> night had nothing to do with<br />
his party. (<strong>Caribbean</strong>360)