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SCRAP Iron Dealers Association president Allan Ferguson warns that protests could happen on the doorsteps of government ministers if Government does not reverse its decision to ban the export of scrap iron for six months.
He issued this threat before the start of a motorcade by the association and supporters from the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba to Barataria.
Ferguson's threat came after Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) president Ancel Roget and Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah condemned acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) McDonald Jacob for rejecting a request for the motorcade to end at the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain.
Before the start of the motorcade, police questioned Ferguson and others involved about where in Port of Spain it would end. They said they had not received information about permission being obtained for the motorcade to enter the city.
Abdulah was first to condemn this.
"I want to say to (acting CoP) Jacob that what you have done today, with curtailing the route to prevent this motorcade from coming into Port of Spain, to prevent the motorcade from even coming down the Eastern Main Road – that, CoP Jacob, is an act of repressing freedom of expression."
[caption id="attachment_971317" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Head of the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Dealers Association Allan Ferguson (pink polo), at the meeting point near the Brian Lara Stadium in San Fernando on Wednesday morning, joined members and supporters for a motorcade to Port of Spain, in response to the government's ban on the industry. Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
Abdulah said there was no reason for the motorcade not being allowed to enter Port of Spain.
"That is a travesty of justice, and if that is the route you are going, you had better mash brakes."
He accused Jacob of doing the Prime Minister's bidding.
"Instead of trying to stop a peaceful motorcade of honest citizens from coming into town to express their views, you should be dealing with the spiralling murder rate."
Roget agreed with Abdulah.
"We (JTUM) stand in total solidarity with the Scrap Iron Dealers Association and all of its members."
He described Jacob as a minion of the Government.
"I could say it openly: it will not be too long from now that you will see him stepping totally out of his crease and preventing any action like this."
Roget urged Jacob to go that route.
"That is why we have to condemn openly the action of the commissioner. This issue (closure of the scrap-iron industry) is more important than any other issue today."
While not directly addressing its motorcade being denied entry into Port of Spain, Ferguson said the association was unfazed by it.
[caption id="attachment_971321" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Michael Annisette, general secretary of the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC), speaking near the Brian Lara Stadium in San Fernando on Wednesday morning, joins the Scrap Iron Dealer's Association and supporters for a motorcade to Port of Spain, in response to the government's decision to ban the industry for six months. Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
"You see the Government and the ministers and all of them, we will be going by your house. I am telling you that. Put the police to guard your house because we are coming."
Ferguson said the children of people who work in the scrap-iron industry have been hungry since its closure.
"We need help. We need help for them."
He added, "We might be coming before school opens because we don't have any books to send the children to school. We don't have no money for uniforms."
Ferguson said people should not think that protests over scrap iron would be limited to certain places.
He reiterated, "We coming to protest by all you (government ministers' homes) just now. The protest will start by all you house."
[caption id="attachment_971320" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget, speaking near the Brian Lara Stadium in San Fernando on Wednesday morning, joins the Scrap Iron Dealer's Association and supporters for a motorcade to Port of Spain, in response to the government's decision to ban the industry for six months. Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
Ferguson reiterated the association's claims that Government was trying to kill the scrap-iron industry and poor people who depend on it.
"You are trying to kill us and we will struggle. We are going to fight all over TT."
 
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