Anti-vax group protests outside empty Red House

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SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

The calm of the capital city was broken yesterday, when a small group of anti-vaccination protestors held a march to the gates of the Red House, which houses the Parliament, shouting “No mandatory vaccines.”

The group, called Trio TT, waved national flags and seemed undeterred by the constant drizzle of rain. They were escorted through the city by heavily armed police officers.

When they got to the Parliament, spokesperson David Welch told reporters the group was “tired” of mandatory vaccines – mainly for children.

“The Prime Minister said that only vaccinated children would be able to come out to schools and the unvaccinated children would have to find another means of education – that sounds mandatory to us, that sounds mandatory to most of us. So we are saying no to that, we are not only no to vaccination for kids but also no for persons who don’t want to take the vaccine,” Welch said.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, during a recent media conference, said physical classes will be reopened on October 1 for students of Forms Four and Five. However, he said only those students who are vaccinated will be allowed to attend physical classes.

Yesterday, Welch claimed there were many people who did not want to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and said they were being forced to do so. He said he and other “social media activists” have received numerous reports.

“One of the main persons involved in not allowing persons to take the vaccine or encouraging persons not to take the vaccine is social media, they have a problem with social media, so we know what they want to say about us. The fact is that the vaccines are not supposed to be mandatory and we don’t want it to be mandatory at all,” Welch said.

Asked whether his demonstration was a political one, as he is known as a United National Congress activist, Welch said he was not wearing any party colours.

As the rest of his group shouted anti-vaccine slogans at the empty Parliament building, Welch showed off the national flag he carried, saying, “No matter what people want to say, they have the opinion to say what they want to say. This is people, we ent here in any PNM colours, in any UNC colours, in any PEP colours, we here with our national flag – red, white and black.”

He said the group had chosen Independence Day to make their stand as they believed the Prime Minister had “taken” the day from them.

“He took Independence away from us, no parade on Independence Day, we must not support our Independence Day, we must not celebrate Independence Day. Flag flies high for Independence Day, it flies high for democracy, this is what this flag represents, this flag does not represent Keith Rowley or the PNM.”

Welch said the group’s plan was for “God” to save them from COVID-19.

Asked whether he was concerned about the large number of unvaccinated people dying from the virus, he said, “The fact is that even persons who have taken the vaccines have succumbed to COVID-19, the vaccinations are not the way. You cannot continue shutting down a country for a virus you don’t understand.”

He accused the media of covering up anti-vaccine mass protests and said the group was not finished with their plan. However, he would not say what they intend to do next.

The group was allowed to continue their demonstration for close to half an hour until police officers asked them to disperse.

Before leaving, Welch and several others knelt in the roadway and shouted several prayers as the officers looked on.