And following along that line, Audrey Matura says that this is just a backdoor for government to activate the controversial preventative detention - which was put on the legislative back burner 7 years ago. That law was proposed in 2011 - and rejected in public consultations. She says government is now going to a constitutional extreme to do the same thing.
And, for proof of this, she points to the fact that the Carnival and Jou’vert route both go right through the heart of these areas demarcated as Public Emergency Zones. She says if there really is a public emergency that meets the threshold for invoking a state of emergency - then there’s no way police should or would put regular citizens through these zones. But they are, and she tells us what conclusion that leads her to:..
Audrey Matura - Attorney
"If this section is saying that your right of movement, your right of association and your right of assembly has been suspended or anything they do, you can't claim that you had that right and they are curtailing it - then it doesn't make sense that you make any carnival parade go through those streets or any festive event. It doesn't make sense because if you're saying these areas are so bad that it endangers the public's safety, why would you encourage members of the public who are not resident in those areas to pass through these areas in a festive mood where people are in a different state of mind - are drinking and all of that. Why would you do that? If you allow it, my theory is them the situation was never that dire, you took the risk to bring thousands of people through that area and all you really wanted to do was use the power of the constitution to implement preventative detention and if you really only wanted to target gangs, we actually have news laws that help how to target gangs. That is what worries me, you could have had the same effect of going after gangs under the criminal justice act as you would have had or better than what you would have under the constitution where then you put the entire population in danger."
The Carnival goes down Central American Boulevard right unto Vernon Street - which is right along the border of special zone #2.
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