Skerrit Warns Citizens to Walk Away From Civil Disobedience Campaigners
Skerrit warned citizens to walk away from confrontations with civil disobedience campaigners, and also tasked the police to exercise restraint in dealing with dissidents. He made this call after opposition leader Lennox Linton said protesters will commence on civil disobedience across the country today at 3 pm.
Speaking at the launch of Dr. Irving McIntyre, the Roseau Valley candidate, in Trafalgar, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit made it clear that Linton’s people will seek violent confrontations so as to generate footage of violence in the country, but that supporters should simply walk away if there is a breakdown of passive discussions.
“What they want next week is enough footage of their activities to display across social media,” he said. “They want to create enough confusion so as to force authorities in Europe and North America to blacklist Dominica’s passport”.
Skerrit said the DLP is a progressive and peaceloving political party and supporters must demonstrate this value on the streets. “There is no need for us to engage with anyone in any confrontation. Do not engage in any argument. If you cannot discuss with somebody walk away and go home and sleep.”
Although the opposition said they are sanctioning civil disobedience actions across the island to make the DLP government account for the US$1.2 billion reportedly missing from the national budget, Skerrit said nothing could be farther from the truth. He said Linton is just looking for bloodshed and only attacking the CBI programme to make the island ungovernable. He said the only thing the opposition leader needed to do to find any missing money is to convene a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee for necessary inquiry, or even ask leading questions in parliament.
Linton on the other hand noted that Skerrit is “deliberately and maliciously” misinterpreting his demand for the missing $1.2 billion and call for civil disobedience. In defining passive resistance, he said it is a peaceful demonstration of the people’s will to demand answers to the legitimate concerns of the people and that this is an internationally accepted form of protect action for people to express dissatisfaction with governments in democracies around the world.
“It has nothing to with vandalism, destruction, violence, destruction of people’s property, harming people in any way, shape or form,” Linton explained. “The classic characterization of civil disobedience has non-violence and peace as the under-girding of that definition.”
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