Port of Spain calm on Tuesday after Monday’s protests

Port of Spain is known for being one of the busiest places in Trinidad, especially during the lunch hour given there are usually scores of people scampering for food or shopping at the various stores throughout the city.

However, on Tuesday it was eerily calm with fewer people on the street after Monday's fiery protests which spread over the Beetham Highway, Sea Lots and parts of east PoS including Nelson and Duncan Streets.

Newsday visited a few businessplaces at around 11.23 am and the calmness left some business owners worried and disappointed over not being able to make the profit they hoped for, but didn't foresee any spillover protests for the rest of the week. A supervisor of Town Centre Mall Pharmacy said, "I don't think Trinidadians are that consistent."

She said, on Monday her and the workers’ main concern was getting home since the protesters blocked several areas with debris and burning tyres causing copious amounts of traffic. Other businesses, though, didn't close earlier or had any encounter with such conditions.

Store supervisor Ria of Francis Fashion Shoe Locker, Queen Street, said: "We weren't affected on this side. We were just getting the news." She said her commute home wasn't affected either as the highway was empty when she left work at 5.20 pm.

Michael Steven, supervisor at Jimmy Aboud's – The Textile King on Henry Street, said after seeing the news reports he understands why shoppers would prefer to stay out of the city, but noted it would be a loss for the business.

"When I read the newspaper this morning, if I was a customer I would stay away from Port of Spain because it was too dramatic."

He said the protests on Monday didn't damper their income, but the slow pace of customers on Tuesday did. The business, he said, is still recovering from the significant loss of revenue because of the 2020 and 2021 covid19 lockdowns.

"We were looking forward to better times after being shut down for two years, and we had a little good thing going. But as soon as word came out, we lost all of our customers."

Calvin, a taxi driver on the St James stand, said he stopped working at 1 pm on Monday. He usually leaves the stand at 4 pm to head to his Chaguanas home.

When asked if he would be staying out later on Tuesday to make up for lost time and money, he said, "Even if I put in the couple extra hours it wouldn't make sense because of the evening traffic, and the situation here doesn't look promising."

Attempts to contact Mayor Joel Martinez for comment went unanswered.