The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) says it is deeply distressed at the violence which broke out in Dominica following a public meeting on Tuesday 7 February.
A statement today from the Chairman of CARICOM, Guyana’s President David Granger said that CARICOM recognizes the right of citizens to engage in peaceful protest. However, the Community condemns the vandalism which led to the destruction of private property and businesses.
“The Community urges all to act with restraint and maintain the orderly and peaceful society to which Dominicans and the wider Community are accustomed”, the statement said.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been reported by the Caribbean Media Corporation as saying that the leadership of two opposition parties had planned to storm his office and “seize the seat of power” during the disturbances.
In a radio and television address on Wednesday night, Skerrit stated that the demonstrators who had been calling for his resignation and that of his government were being pushed by the “militant, irresponsible behaviour of the leadership” of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), CMC reported.
