THE Opposition says a team of three lawyers headed by Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally has been sent to seek the legal interests of residents of East Port of Spain. This team visited the residents on Sunday morning.
Tenants of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) apartment complex on Duncan Street and lower Independence Square were evicted as the corporation moved to demolish the building.
As described in media reports, there were clashes between the residents, HDC officials and law enforcement officers on Saturday.
During its weekly Sunday press conference at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Port of Spain Opposition Senator Wade Mark said lawyers were sent to assist the residents.
He also claimed Government wants to create an “Eastmoorings” in that part of Port of Spain, with that name being a play on the name Westmoorings – an area in West Trinidad which is home to mainly very affluent citizens.
[caption id="attachment_1004228" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police vehicles near the HDC apartment complex on Duncan Street which was vacated on Saturday. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB -[/caption]
Mark said the Opposition will be meeting with the residents on Monday. He said these residents were “uprooted” and treated like “dogs” and “slaves.” He said the HDC brought police to ensure tenants vacated their homes, some who lived there for over 50 years.
“What a shameless episode TT witnessed. Well, the UNC has intervened and we have sent a team of lawyers to East Port of Spain. We will not sit idly by and allow the People’s National Movement to simply ride roughshod over the citizens," Mark said.
He said although these same people may have voted for the PNM, they are citizens “and we are going to defend their rights and freedoms.
“The PNM wants to create an Eastmoorings, I am warning the people of East Port of Spain.”
He accused the Government of getting rid of the people and telling them that the space was going to be renovated and rebuilt. Instead the residents were being sent to spaces in south and central Trinidad, Mark claimed.
Mark added that many of the residents’ jobs are in Port of Spain.
[caption id="attachment_1004227" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Elderly East PoS resident Colleen Mendoza gestures as HDC tenants were forced to vacate an apartment complex on Duncan Street on Saturday. -[/caption]
“They are so insensitive to the needs of their own constituents that they bring in police to run these people and they went and broke down their windows. They forced them to remove their belongings.”
Mark said the UNC condemns the heavy law-enforcement presence at the site.
“We are not saying that people cannot move for redevelopment but don’t put them in Princes Town."
He accused the Government of wanting the bourgeoisie (a social class often used to refer to the middle to upper classes) to be new occupants of East Port of Spain.
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