Griffith, Chin on massive Saturday crowd: ‘MovieTowne no babysitter’

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith and MovieTowne owner Derek Chin are calling on parents to be more responsible when it comes to their children.

Their comments come after photos and videos of a large crowd outside the cinemas at MovieTowne, Port of Spain on Saturday circulated on social media.

The crowd mostly comprised teenagers who were dropped off by their parents, presumably to watch the recently-released Godzilla vs Kong movie.

And while he empathised with parents whose children have been doing classes online from home as schools have been closed for over a year owing to the covid19 pandemic, Chin said many use the venue as a babysitter for their children.

MovieTowne has a Monster Combo deal which invites people to buy two movie tickets, two monster cheese pizza slices or two hot dogs, one monster popcorn, and two 16-ounce soft drinks for $160.

The crowd gathered just hours after the Prime Minister appealed to citizens to avoid giving in to covid19 fatigue so senior primary schoolchildren could go back to school after the Easter vacation.

Griffith said the situation showed that people were not listening to the comments and pleas made by Dr Rowley, and they were also disregarding the public health regulations.

“What we saw happen in MovieTowne was very difficult for the police to control. The vast majority of people were minors, and it was difficult to disperse minors because when you’re asking them to leave, we can’t expect to tell the minors to go on the foreshore. Many of them were dropped off by their parents, telling their parents they were going there to spend a few hours and, because of that, it made it difficult for the police.

“Additionally, in MovieTowne, where it is accepted for 50 per cent of people to enter, if you have, say, ten cinemas that could hold 400 people each – I’m just giving a rough estimate – you’re talking about 200 people going there at any one time, by ten cinemas, so you could have 2,000 people all arriving at the same time and leaving at the same time.

“The problem was not so much people going into the theatres, but the number of people who went there to gather, and they were sent there by their parents. A parent might drop off their child not believing that it will be anything that can cause a problem, but if you get thousands of parents all deciding to do the same thing by their children all asking the same question, and it’s all done at the same time, therein lies the problem.”

Griffith said he was at the venue with five police patrols, and this took resources away from other areas in the Western Division where breaches of the regulations may also have been happening.“I do know that many people, especially young people, are frustrated. But when everybody decides to go to the same place at the same time, that is what makes it very difficult for the police, and that’s why we’re trying to ask people to refrain from believing that they must all go to the beach at the same time during the Easter weekend.”

Responding to questions from Newsday via WhatsApp, Chin said the major attraction was the Godzilla vs Kong movie. He said despite the “monster-size crowd, it was just busy and incident-free. The kids had a good time and followed instructions according to the police and security.
“The majority of kids wore masks and were told to not group. Everything was monitored. This happens at various times during the year and is not an everyday occurrence.”

He thanked the police, including Griffith, for their assistance, which he said was forthcoming when necessary.

Chin said there was a certain level of responsibility which was not being shown by parents.
“Many use MovieTowne as the babysitter for their kids. We try to keep a clean, secure and safe environment. Check and you can see that!

“It’s also difficult for ‘tired’ parents, as bringing up kids in today’s world is no mean feat. The children need places to exhale too, and more guidance maybe. We try to do our part as responsible people.”

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh could not be reached by phone or WhatsApp.