No-protest zones spark outrage from NATUC

The Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NATUC) is con­demn­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to es­tab­lish 15 “no-protest zones” un­der the cur­rent State of Emer­gency, de­scrib­ing the move as a di­rect at­tack on democ­ra­cy and con­sti­tu­tion­al free­doms.

In a me­dia state­ment is­sued on Fri­day, NATUC said the re­stric­tions im­posed by the Gov­ern­ment and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice threat­en cit­i­zens’ rights to peace­ful protest, free­dom of ex­pres­sion, free­dom of as­sem­bly, and law­ful in­dus­tri­al ac­tion.

Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Michael An­nisette warned that the mea­sures could in­tim­i­date work­ers, trade unions, com­mu­ni­ty or­gan­i­sa­tions, and or­di­nary cit­i­zens who wish to voice con­cerns over na­tion­al is­sues.

“This de­ci­sion rep­re­sents a dan­ger­ous and un­ac­cept­able as­sault on the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic rights, con­sti­tu­tion­al free­doms, and civ­il lib­er­ties of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go,” the state­ment said.

NATUC ac­knowl­edged the im­por­tance of main­tain­ing na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty and pub­lic or­der dur­ing the State of Emer­gency but ar­gued that such pow­ers should not be used to si­lence dis­sent or dis­cour­age cit­i­zens from speak­ing out against in­jus­tice, eco­nom­ic hard­ship, un­safe work­ing con­di­tions, un­em­ploy­ment, or pover­ty.

The trade union body ex­pressed par­tic­u­lar con­cern about the des­ig­na­tion of broad protest-free ar­eas around ma­jor State in­sti­tu­tions, say­ing the re­stric­tions pre­vent cit­i­zens from be­ing heard where de­ci­sions af­fect­ing their lives are made.

“It is deeply trou­bling when cit­i­zens are told that they may have griev­ances, but they must not bring those griev­ances near the seats of pow­er,” the state­ment added.

NATUC main­tained that peace­ful protest is a le­git­i­mate and nec­es­sary part of democ­ra­cy, es­pe­cial­ly when peo­ple be­lieve their con­cerns are be­ing ig­nored.

The or­gan­i­sa­tion al­so stressed that it does not sup­port vi­o­lence or un­law­ful be­hav­iour, but it strong­ly op­pos­es any ac­tion that crim­i­nalis­es the ex­pres­sion of frus­tra­tion and de­mands for jus­tice by work­ers and cit­i­zens.

An­nisette called on the Gov­ern­ment to im­me­di­ate­ly re­con­sid­er and with­draw the re­stric­tions and urged of­fi­cials to en­gage in mean­ing­ful di­a­logue with trade unions, civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions, and the wider pub­lic be­fore im­ple­ment­ing mea­sures that af­fect cit­i­zens’ rights and free­doms.

The union body fur­ther stat­ed that work­ers and pro­test­ers should not be viewed as en­e­mies of the State or threats to na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.

“NATUC stands firm and un­wa­ver­ing in its du­ty to de­fend the rights, free­doms, dig­ni­ty, and de­mo­c­ra­t­ic voice of work­ers and cit­i­zens through­out Trinidad and To­ba­go,” the state­ment con­clud­ed.