TWO officers from the Central Police Station in Port of Spain
told activist Nazma Muller and UWI maths lecturer Dr Charles De Matas on Monday they were not allowed to protest outside Parliament, where the House of Representatives was due to debate the state of emergency (SoE).
The police also insisted that Newsday's photographer and reporter also move along from the pavement on the eastern side of Abercromby Street, describing the two media members
as part of an "illegal" gathering.
Newsday had gone to interview and photograph Muller, who was there to argue that the SoE was too onerous on poor people and should be called off.
She also argued for the promotion of cannabis to help provide people with a possible cure for covid19, plus a form of relaxation against anxiety and gainful employment during this uncertain period. Calling for a lifting of the SoE, Muller said many people did not know how they would eat for the next six weeks of restrictions and said the Government now has an obligation to feed them.
De Matas had hoped to push the Government to try using the drug Ivermectin as a prophylactic against covid19.
The two officers approached on foot a couple of minutes after two Parliament police officers had left the Red House to go to the gate to get a better look. A helicopter circling overhead paused to observe.
One officer, a PC, also told Newsday's photographer he was obstructing traffic and should desist from taking photos.
The PC also alleged the photographer was interfering in the police's work of trying to curb the two protesters.
Newsday asked the other officer, a sergeant, if they were moving the two protesters and the media under legal powers derived from the coronavirus regulations or by way of SoE powers.
The sergeant replied neither, but said it was illegal to assemble to protest without permission from the Commissioner of Police, which Muller did not have.
Asked about the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of assembly, the sergeant said this right was subject to getting the CoP's permission.
Muller later told Newsday she had been told she could be present on the pavement opposite Parliament but without her placard.
Parliament's corporate communications manager Colleen Holder told Newsday that Parliament
had not instructed its police to remove the media.
CoP Gary Griffith told Newsday, "If there are people gathered in numbers (in excess) of what is specified in the public health regulations then the police will have to disperse them. It could have been that, but I was not there."
The Public Health (Novel Coronavirus) Regulations say no more than five people can gather.
"They can't all converge at the gate where the ministers are entering," Griffith added. "Obviously no one will tell me to disperse the media unless they are doing something to break the law.
"If there is one entrance on Abercromby Street and all of the media are gather there to interview an MP as they are entering, that would be in violation. But if they are spaced out, there is nothing wrong wit
