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It's been almost 48 hours since the Government issued a proclamation issuing a state of public emergency on the Southside of Belize City. The unprecedented Statutory Instrument came into force at midnight on Tuesday - and within hours police were searching homes and making mass arrests in two designated Zones on the Southside. 100 men were detained - and police estimated that 75 of them will be jailed for at least a month. They will not be arraigned or afforded any of the normal features of due process.

Tonight, human rights advocates are pushing back. Attorney Audrey Matura Shepherd says that by declaring a state of public emergency Government used too powerful a provision of the constitution - and have not set any limits on those powers:…

Audrey Matura - Attorney
"Calling a state of public emergency is not something you take likely you know. What that means, people don't understand that moment and that section 18 of the constitution what you do, you suspend the rights of people under the constitution. I find that when I listen to what was said at the press conference that they mention there is the proclamation but there is no talk about the regulations. So when you suspend those protections that the constitution, it has to come with a good reason and if you're not intending to use the blanket power then the regulation will curtail; like although the law says I can do all of this, I don't need to do all of this - here the regulation outlining the extent of the power I intend to use. That was never unveiled at that press conference and that's why I've been clamouring like where are the regulations? What are the parameters are you operating in? And it has not been answered. I pose the question on Facebook to Chester Williams since he was one of the key players behind and I've not received an answer and I think that's what you all need to be pressing for, the answer to that."

Reporter
"Do you think it's a case where they simply do not have the regulations, they've not done it? Or they just don't want to disclose them?"

Audrey Matura
"Once they have the regulation they have to disclose it, this is a matter of public interest. These things cannot be done behind closed doors. The reason it has to be disclosed because it infringes on your right and if they are going to curtail your rights, you have to know the parameters within which it's being done."