Caribbean Times 97th Issue - Tuesday 14th February 2017

8 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Tuesday 14th February 2017
Was there a Coup attempt in Dominica?
PM says yes, opposition says no
ROSEAU, Dominica – Charges and
countercharges are making the rounds
in Dominica as police continue investigations
to get to the bottom of Tuesday’s
violent disturbance following an
anti-government protest, which resulted
in the vandalism of nine businesses
and 32 arrests.
While Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit has revealed details of an alleged
attempt by opposition parties to
“seize the seat of power”, Opposition
Leader Lennox Linton has dismissed
the claim as “another lie” the Prime
Minister has concocted to win the sympathy
of Dominicans.
In a national address last night, in
which he painstakingly outlined the sequence
of events leading up to the disturbance,
Skerrit charged that it was the
“militant, irresponsible behaviour of
the leadership of the main opposition
UWP and the Dominica Freedom Party
(DFP) that triggered the action.
The Prime Minister said police had
been tipped off about a plan by opposition
forces.
“It is important for me to share with
you the plan, which was relayed to intelligence
personnel in the Dominica
Police Force. Fortunately, for us all, not
every member of the United Workers
Party and Dominica Freedom Party is
supportive of the militant, irresponsible
behavior of the leadership. So, details
of the plan had already been shared
with the police and security officials,”
Skerrit told the nation.
“The police had information that
the intent of the leadership was to stall
the truck in front the Financial Centre
and storm the barriers with the intent
of entering the building. This was the
intent of the leadership of the United
Workers Party and the Dominica Free-
Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelet
Skerrit
dom Party. This is how they intended to
seize the seat of power in the country.
They would have stormed the Financial
Center Building and seek to occupy the
building until their demands were met.”
Earlier in the day, the opposition
parties led supporters in what was supposed
to be an 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. public
meeting near the Financial Centre
where Skerrit’s office is located.
The Prime Minister said the meeting
had proceeded “peacefully and
consistent with the intent and spirit
of the agreement reached between the
police and the leaderships of the two
opposition parties the day before”, but
when Linton took control of the microphone
around 2:50 p.m., “it changed
the course of events and resulted in
Dominica making world headlines all
day today, and not for a good reason”.
After the meeting was finished,
Skerrit said, the driver of the truck in
front of the Financial Centre was ordered
by police to proceed west, but
it could not be driven forward because
a mob was blocking it, and the atmosphere
of the crowd then started to deteriorate.
“At about 6:30 p.m., the crowd
started agitating and started chanting
‘Skerrit must go’. In all this, the leadership
of the UWP and DFP said or did
nothing to contain the emotions of their
supporters,” Skerrit said, noting that
earlier Linton had spoken for an hour
and 15 minutes after the agreed time
indicating that the meeting would only
end when he was ready.
“This is when and where the cue
was given for persons to do whatever
they deemed necessary to forcibly and
unlawfully remove a democratically
elected government from office,” Skerrit
said, adding that the events that later
unfolded were “as a direct consequence
and a result of the decision by Lennox
Linton to say, in effect, ‘to hell with the
police, we shall do as we please’.”
However, speaking on radio this
morning, Linton hit back, categorically
denying there was a plan to overthrow
the government.
“There was no plan at all, no plan
at all that Lennox Linton and the leadership
of the United Workers Party is
aware of, to storm the Financial Centre,”
he stated.
The UWP Leader also challenged
the Prime Minister to reveal the source
of his intelligence, maintaining that he
had no knowledge of the alleged plot.
“Lennox Linton, on behalf of the
leadership of the UWP, is asking him
to pull away the veil of intelligence and
say specifically who was behind that
plot,” he noted. “Call names, because
whoever advised your intelligence
would have told them where X or Y
discussed that or told me that on such
and such a time, ” Dominica News Online
reported.
Linton was adamant since yesterday,
that the looting and violence on
Tuesday night had nothing to do with
his party. (Caribbean360)