Police caution businessmen frustrated by lockdown: Hold strain

COMMISSIONER of Police Gary Griffith said the defiant stance by businessman Stephen Hadeed towards the law and reopening his business on Monday is simply due to frustration.

Hadeed’s social-media post, “I am opening on Monday, the bank calling me, the finance company calling me! Let them come and close me, I have court clothes!” has generated hundreds of likes, comments and shares.

Responses have been for and against.

“That is frustration. He will not,” Griffith told the Newsday in a WhatsApp response to the statement by Hadeed, whose food service businesses have been shut down for several months as Government tries to get a grip on the spread of covid19 virus.

Hadeed owns and runs Luce (Italian for light), a lounge, wine bar and sushi restaurant at the Hilton Trinidad Hotel and Conference Centre.

The Prime Minister said on Saturday the food service industry has not been forgotten and will soon be reopened once the number of cases and deaths continue to decrease.

Supporters of Hadeed advocated for take-out to resume, triggering of another controversial statement, “Let them lock all of us up at the same time, but the other Arabs fraid the PNM.

“How can I be afraid when the bank and bills don’t stop??? Enough of this oppression.”

Calls to Hadeed’s cell phone went straight to voice mail.

Recognising the frustration entrepreneurs and their employees continue to face, DCP McDonald Jacob called on businesses to hold strain.

“When one takes into consideration what is happening in the country, we have to abide by the necessary regulations.

“We have a systemic way in which the health care professionals are dealing with the issues and advising the Government and the Ministry of National Security how to deal with this.

“I think we ought to respect that. If we as law-abiding citizens and elders in the community chose to break this law, what kind of example would we be setting for other persons who might be committing other kinds of crime?

“We have to be mindful of our decisions.”

Reflecting on the personal toll the pandemic has taken on the police service, Jacob said the police could have also reacted negatively.

“Look at the police service. We have already lost 12 persons as a result of the virus. We could have taken a decision to shut down the service, but we have not done that. Our officers are still continuing to work out there.

“It is a kind of sacrifice we all have to make. Things are going well now and we have to hold strain.”

Mayor of Port of Spain and businessman Joel Martinez said because somebody defied the laws and brought people with the virus illegally into the country or lied about their status, the country is in lockdown and under a curfew.

“In the early days we had few deaths and few cases but somebody did something they should not have done and  created mayhem for a lot of people.

“Because somebody decided to defy the process and not listen, we are all paying the price for it at this stage.”

Assuring the storm is not going to last forever, Martinez said, “I have business in the malls. My wife has stores in the mall which she can’t open and we are suffering as a result. But we can’t go and open because I feel I could and say to hell with the Prime Minister.

“We have to operate according to the law. There is a pandemic and a lot of people have died and hospitals overwhelmed. The Prime Minister has to make tough decisions to bring back everybody to work at some stage. When that happens, then we will work on developing the economic aspect of it which is our livelihood.”

He sympathised with Hadeed and others like him who are facing mounting debt, criticising the banking sector.

“If a bank is going to be picking up a phone to call you when they know that your business is locked down, then that is also unreasonable.”