Confusion erupted on Thursday night as Independent Liberal Party (ILP) supporters and United National Congress (UNC) supporters confronted each other during an ILP meeting in Carapichaima.
During the meeting, held at Orange Valley Road, Carapichaima, a group of about ten people gathered opposite the tents, shouting “Go make yuh jail!” at ILP leader Jack Warner. A music truck loaded with speakers and blaring one of the People’s Partnership’s (PP) theme songs, “Sign of a victory,” also cruised by the meeting about half a dozen times, prompting an outburst from ILP deputy political leader Sunil Ramjitsingh.
Ramjitsingh, who was named as the candidate for the Couva North constituency at the end of the meeting by Warner, condemned the driver of the truck, hinting that he was being paid by a UNC official.
His outburst prompted several party supporters to leave the tents under which the meeting was being held and attempt to stop the truck. One ILP supporter, who identified himself as a Mr Mendez, ran out into the roadway and began walking toward the truck which was parked a short distance away from the tents. However, as he approached the truck, the driver drove off. Several people also gathered opposite the tents and heckled Warner and Ramjitsingh while they were speaking.
“Go make yuh jail!” one elderly man shouted. “We don’t want yuh here!” One woman cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted “Yuh ungrateful!” throughout Warner’s speech. However, when this reporter attempted to speak to the pair, the man walked away and his female companion refused to speak.
The jeers during Warner’s address became too much for Ramjitsingh, who approached the group and told the elderly man, “Yuh bringing yourself so low for them?” Ramjitsingh, armed with a camera, tried to take a picture of the man, who bolted off, leaving Ramjitsingh to chase after him. The man then came back and began arguing with Ramjitsingh and Mendez, who told the group to go home. Addressing party supporters, Warner dismissed the shouts and jeers, saying, “Pay no attention to them, they have nothing better to do.”
Referring to his extradition hearing in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court earlier that day, he said the PP Government was desperate to see him go to jail. “You could imagine they send ten lawyers just to ask for an adjournment?
“What madness is that?” he asked. “They spent $2m to file for an adjournment that one lawyer could have done.” Pointing to one of his young supporters, he said, “You just leave law school last week and I sure you could have done that on your own. That is the action of a desperate Government. They want to get Jack Warner out. They want to see Jack Warner in jail.”