For Release: August 9, 2021
Contact: 726-0081
Prime Minister Gaston Browne is a liar and a coward, hiding behind unsubstantiated rhetoric.
This is the United Progressive Party’s opinion of the diatribe that he has chosen to call a National Address in response to the disgust that has greeted the incident of Sunday, August 8, when the Police responded to a peaceful protest with unrestrained violence.
Prime Minister Browne, Attorney-General Steadroy Benjamin, Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney and the Riot Squad of the Police Force have all come in for condemnation, criticism, and rejection by nationals and residents on island; members of the diaspora; and Caribbean neighbours, since defenseless children, women and men were tear-gassed and rubber-bulleted.
In a shocking contrast to the peaceful demonstrations that have taken place across the region and further abroad, the world has seen – firsthand, through live recordings by many ordinary citizens – the brutality that was meted out to the people of this country by those who are sworn to protect and serve – with the blessing of the Antigua Labour Party Administration.
To cover their shame, Prime Minister Browne has resorted to naked lies, trying to link the brutalization of Antiguans and Barbudans to some spurious conspiracy between the United Progressive Party, the Freedom Fighters of Antigua & Barbuda, and unnamed criminals.
When was this conspiracy uncovered and by whom? When the Freedom Fighters group staged one, two, three pickets ahead of Sunday’s protest – with numbers above the previous limit of 25 persons – did Mr. Browne think, then, that the group was aligned to this Party?
When he told the public he was confident that no permission to march on August 8 would be given, was he already conspiring with the Police? And when, on Saturday, the day before the event, the Minister with responsibility for the Police declared that the protesters “had another think coming,” because it would not be like St. Vincent, what exactly, was Mr. Benjamin plotting?
No matter how many times Mr. Browne repeats the untruth, it remains a LIE: There was no illegal march. The Freedom Fighters, on Friday, informed the public that no permission had been granted (with an answer withheld by the Commissioner until 48 hours before) and that the event would be converted to a peaceful and orderly gathering, instead.
Nowhere on any recording of the event is there any evidence of provocation, threat, or defiance by the protestors or by those standing on the sides in support. None! And, not being able to find justification for the police violence – including in the Rural West and South communities – the Prime Minister has resorted to conspiracy theories.
The United Progressive Party challenges Mr. Browne and Mr. Benjamin not only to produce evidence that the Police reacted to provocation by the protesters, but to show any collaboration between the Freedom Fighters and the Party, and to name the criminals that he claims instigated unrest.
Until they can do that, their accusations are nothing but the whistling in the dark of two frightened men who stand condemned in the public’s view and disgraced among world citizens who recognize and respect the democratic rights of everyone, regardless of their personal views.
This is not about vaccination, which our leaders – unlike Prime Minister Browne – have undergone in public, sharing the very same drug to which the masses had access. This is about the ALP’s crashing approval rates and the very real specter of rejection at the next polls.
