But first….two sections of Southside Belize are about to enter their second week of being under a state of emergency. And tonight scores of men from the George Street and Banak Street areas are still held in police custody. Today, on our way to the police press conference at the Queen Street station, we had to pass in front of the holding cell - and the men in there pleaded for our attention. Jules Vasquez tells us what he heard from them:..
Jules Vasquez reporting
This was the sound of the eruptive fury and frustration for the George Street men detained since last week here at the Queen Street station. We only got in a few words with them - but they noted said they hadn't yet been told what they were being held for. Last week the Deputy Commissioner said they would be told after 7 days:
DCP Chester Williams
"The constitution section 18, subsection 10 makes provision where they are entitled to certain due process. In the sense that they can be allowed access to an attorney and an attorney can make application on their behalf before a court in terms of asking the court to look at their detention and it will be a matter for us to be able to justify why we have them detained to the court and that we intend to do."
Reporter
"Sir, but there will be no standard 48 hours and 72 hours?"
DCP Chester Williams, AG. Commissioner
"No. The law simply states that in the first 7 days we must inform them of why they are detained. So in the normal course of the constitution, you have 24 hours. In this case the declaration law says 7 days in the first instance inform them as to why they are detained."
But that is 7 days of a month:
DCP Chester Williams, AG. Commissioner
"What we intend to do that in the first instance we intend to incarcerate these individuals for one month - if at the end of that they have no shown no signs of improvement then we plan to take it further."
These men shouted today that they are fed up - and the mood here this morning was, honestly, as raw as the scent of more than 20 men locked up in a small area for a week.
Police pushed us out of the area in less than a minute, but we now wonder when these men will see a judge:
They were picked up last week Wednesday morning - a little over 100 men, and police said they would keep 75 in custody:
DCP Chester Williams, AG. Commissioner
"While yes the proclamation do give the police and other law enforcement agencies powers to be able to go in and arrest the situation, we do not intend to abuse those powers that will be bestowed upon us by the proclamation."
But seeing this scene here today, one wonders, what's next - how do police hope to keep these men calm upon their release if they will spend 30 days like this?
Last week Friday, we saw the men from the Banak Street area who are apparently being held at Raccoon Street under similar conditions.
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