No charges against 72 protesters yet

Deputy Commissioner of Police Jayson Forde said “all charges” have not yet been laid against protesters who were arrested on Tuesday.

The police issued a press release on Tuesday evening saying a total of 72 people were arrested for participating in protests linked to the police shooting of three men – Joel Jacob, Israel Clinton and Noel Diamond.

It added that others would also soon be detained.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Forde said he had had a sleepless night and commended the police for their “hard work.

“What we had was an attempt to disrupt life as we know it in TT. Ironically, because of our partnership with our citizens, we were getting snippets of information that some type of disruption was scheduled…What I witnessed was a clearly calculated, planned, organised attempt to disrupt TT.

Asked what the arrested protesters were charged with, he said, “You would appreciate that it was a long and extensive exercise and today we will be dealing with that.”