Violence erupts again at cement plant

Southern Division officers are saying several violent incidents at the Trinidad Cement Limited plant at Mayo during the past two days came as a direct result of the decision to withdraw off-duty police officers from the strike camp. “We now have to draw from four to five police stations to send a crew to the strike camp at Mayo and Claxton Bay, when we could have utilised off-duty police officers in the past,” a senior police officer told the T&T Guardian  yesterday.

Noting that there was already a shortage of officers in the division, he said: “This is creating a further strain on our already short resources and it is giving the union an upper hand. The union want small police presence so they could do what they want.” The officer confirmed that two of the tyres from one of their vehicles used to escort workers to the Mayo plant were also punctured by spikes planted in the ground leading to the entrance.