Different strokes from thepolice

THE EDITOR: I am sure the nation observed the vast disparity in how the TTPS dealt with the protest by the Beetham Gardens residents, which involved the characteristic burning of debris thrown onto the highway, the signature obscene language and non-compliance with health regulations.

In some video footage, the organisers presented themselves to officers without masks. The officers were sympathetic when they learnt that the action was taken due to a sewer problem and so the action went on: people endured many hours inhaling “contaminated” smoke, the entire travelling public was disrupted from as far away as Point Fortin, all because Beetham toilets could not be flushed.

To crown it off, talk show hosts on the 6 pm police programme as well as their rival (in more ways than one) each devoted their entire programmes to pleading the case for the Beetham residents to get state gifts, patronage and support – all because effluent was in their streets.

Compare this to the recent protest action in Barrackpore: the “minister of bad roads” had an immediate estimate of road damage, as well as a willing body of law enforcement that went to war on the villagers by searching homes, threatening arrests and intimidating the Member of Parliament. Night and day, the same equipment bought by the taxpaying nation were used against them, being that they dared to protest for better roads above the standard of tracks and traces, craters and sinkholes.

Now more than ever we know that "protect and serve" does not apply to all and it depends on the political directorate of the day. So the balisier breeze blows, so the TTPS will sway.

LINDA CAPILDEO

St James