{"id":75147,"date":"2019-10-27T21:55:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T01:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=75147"},"modified":"2019-10-27T21:55:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T01:55:58","slug":"pm-against-independence-eve-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/pm-against-independence-eve-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Against Independence Eve Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Prime Minister Gaston Browne has voiced concern over a pre-independence protest organised by the opposition.<\/p>

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Browne said an opposition group calling themselves ‘Faithful Nationals,’ want to hold a demonstration on the eve of independence, this coming Thursday.<\/p>\n

“I am also aware to that they intend to be disruptive,” Browne said.<\/p>

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He said he was told that Algernon “Serpent” Watts, an opposition figure, “publicly stated that he would need people to bail him.”<\/p>

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“Now if he is literally projecting some violation of the laws of Antigua and Barbuda\u2026I think this is a form of destructive politics,” Browne said.<\/p>\n

The prime minister said while he welcomes difference of opinion on a variety of issues, “when you going to be destructive to try and tear down the country that is where I draw the line.”<\/p>

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“The whole idea that they want to become king and queen of the ashes when the country has been burned to the ground, those efforts must be resisted,” he said.<\/p>\n

Browne said he is in favour of a strident opposition, “however a strident opposition should operate within the confines of the law.”<\/p>

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The country’s prime minister said “I just want to appeal to Serpent and others that they ought to respect our independence.”<\/p>

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He added, “I do not think that on the eve of our independence the 31st<\/sup> of October is an appropriate time for any form or protestation.”<\/p>\n

“We must respect it especially from the standpoint that our fore-bearers had to fight for 400 years to achieve Independence.”<\/p>\n

“And for us to treat their efforts with contempt and to be divisive when we should be celebrating the successes, sweat blood and tears of our forebears, I think that is the level of maturity we need to see from\u00a0 members of the opposition.”<\/p>\n

Meantime, Browne has poured cold water on an opposition march last week, he said “the march last week was a monumental failure, I remember telling a number of people that the march was unlikely to succeed because it was based on slandering myself and a number of my family members.”<\/p>\n

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The opposition said this week that its second march in an many weeks it to protest “rampant mismanagement and corruption by the ABLP administration while we the people suffer.”<\/p>\n

They have outlined two major demands\u00a0 of the ABLP administration:
\n1. The immediate resignation of Radford Hill as Chairman of the Integrity Commission.
\n2. A full inquiry into the Customs corruption scandal, which has allegedly put one Customs Officer\u2019s life at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne has voiced concern over a pre-independence protest organised by the opposition. Browne said an opposition group calling themselves ‘Faithful Nationals,’ want to hold a demonstration on the eve of independence, this coming Thursday. “I am also aware to that they intend to be disruptive,” Browne said. He said he was told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nPM Against Independence Eve Protest - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/pm-against-independence-eve-protest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PM Against Independence Eve Protest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prime Minister Gaston Browne has voiced concern over a pre-independence protest organised by the opposition. 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