Taste of Carnival revellers frustrate NCC, police

The behaviour of revellers during a Taste of Carnival events at safe zones has frustrated acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob and National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters.

Videos from two events, Vibes with Voicey and Sekon Sta concerts on Thursday and Friday, showing patrons gathered in tight clusters flouting covid19 protocols was heavily criticised by the public on social media.

Police abruptly shut down Vibes with Voicey at 2 pm, just as Iwer George started his performance. The crowd was confused by this decision and it seems no explanation was given before the crowd was told the show is over.

On Saturday, Peters reminded the public that this year’s Carnival celebration is just a taste of the festival before cautioning patrons not to get caught up in the moment.

He said, “When we have to try to police these grown people all the time it's frustrating but at the end of the day, it comes with the territory, it's what we have to do. And we're going to continue to do it to the best of our ability, but we're not going to be totally able to eradicate people's bad behaviour.

“I don't know exactly what went on but I know the focus is on the behaviour of people. But then we have to understand that we would do the best that we can, but we cannot be totally responsible for the behaviour of everybody. We have a lot of security, they're trying to guard as much as we can and to do the best we can in terms of crowd control.

Peters said he isn’t completely surprised by the breach in covid19 ruled at safe zones.

"People get out of hand in every single thing. We have police officers inside there who are supposed to help with crowd control. We pay a lot of money for all of that, that's why they are there. I can't really tell you exactly who could be responsible for people's bad behaviour. We try to control it as much as we can but it's as much as we can do.

“We do have an adequate amount of security there to try to the best we can but regardless of what you're doing, we have people who are still trying to flout whatever is in place."

Asked what else will be done to encourage those inside Carnival safe zone events to adhere to the regulations, Peters said there is one last resort.

“I don’t know what other measures we can take when we have all the safeguards in place. People are coming there knowing that they are required to have a certain kind of behaviour. The most we can do next is have them ejected from the place."

He reminded organisers of the important role they must play to prevent mismanagement and chaos in the designated safe zones for the Taste of Carnival activities.

Jacob said he will continue to encourage his officers to monitor the crowds to keep them under control.

He said, “We have a level of frustration. It seems when the music starts to play and the excitement builds we forget we are in a pandemic. What officers would do is make an announcement on the mic reminding people to follow covid19 rules.”

He said it is more complicated for officers to intervene to make arrests. “The situation is very difficult and tenuous at this time but we are doing everything in our power to work with the organisers. We even ask performers, before they perform, to remind patrons to we are in a pandemic.”

“We want a taste of Carnival but not a taste of covid19…”

Sekon Sta was not in a position to make a comment when contacted on Saturday event.

During a Ministry of Health press conference on Saturday, Terrence Deyalsingh said event organisers are solely responsible for the operation of the safe zone. He went on to say that the police are responsible for ensuring all covid19 regulations are adhered to in the safe zone.

In safe zones, people are required to wear a mask, except when eating, by fully vaccinated, practice social distancing.