January 20 and 21
On January 20, the business community and labor unions called for a two-day nationwide strike. Employees did not report to work, and water service for much of Belize was turned off. A major public demonstration planned by the opposition took place on January 21 in Belmopan. (The ruling PUP reportedly planned a counter-demonstration.) This was a large demonstration outside the National Assembly building in Belmopan which ended in violence. Protestors threw rocks at the police, who responded with rubber bullets and riot gas. The gunfire and sirens were audible at a distance of at least 1 km. At least one larger booming sound, significantly louder than gunfire, was heard; the cause of this is unclear. Several protestors were arrested, including 'Yellowman', a UDP stalwart. The permission for the demonstration ended at 3pm, but the protestors were given a one hour extension. At the end of the extension, repeated demands for dispersal were largely ignored. Former Superintendent (now Assistant Commissioner) of Police Crispin Jeffries read the riot act to the crowd, and after waiting an additional 40 minutes he ordered riot police to disperse the crowd, which they did using teargas and rubber bullets. Some union workers laid down and refused to disperse; they were physically dragged from the area.
This is only the third time that this kind of unrest has hit Belize. The most recent occasion was in the 1980s, when a proposal was drafted to cede part of the country to Guatemala occasioned the Heads of Agreement Crisis.
Reports indicate that the police were very calm throughout the day, although some police cadets were said to have employed unnecessary force against orders. There were reports of fully trained officers restraining cadets and removing them from the police lines, and some people assert that no rocks were thrown until after a protestor was hit in the head by a club wielded by a cadet.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Belize Unrest
Famous quotes containing the word january:
“Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)