Demonstrators from the human rights lobby group Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) picketed the gates of the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive yesterday, in hopes of getting an audience with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who was speaking at a function there. They want an end to the Prime Minister's silence on human rights issues, but were ignored by Mr. Patterson. - Carlington Wilmot/Freelance Photographer . HUMAN RIGHTS lobby group Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) yesterday staged a placard-bearing Emancipation Day protest in front of The Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive, where Prime Minister P.J. Patterson was speaking.
This was in hopes of getting him to "break his silence" on human rights issues.
However Mr. Patterson, who FAST had planned to "sing a song for" when he was leaving the fourth annual Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance, did not acknowledge the group when he exited The Little Theatre.
Inside the function however, Mr. Patterson with light laughter from the audience, took a jab at the protesters using an analogy to slaves and slave masters.
"They (slaves) knew that they were exploited. They knew that first the slave owners and then the colonial masters exercised the tyranny of physical control. They understood that they themselves had to fashion the strategies by which their liberation would be secured, " he said. "Happily, there (is) enough ancestral memory and ancestral pride remaining that we are able to stand as proud defenders of our rights as citizens of this land... we do not need to bear placards to demonstrate that."
ANNIVERSARY
Outside, FAST chairperson Yvonne Sobers said that the protesters, who included relatives of those killed in Kraal, Clarendon and Braeton, St. Catherine, had chosen the day because it was the anniversary of the death of Andrae Morris, a St. George's College old boy who was killed by the police in St. Mary two years ago.
The Director of Public Prosecutions she said is yet to make a ruling into the matter.
"There are so many inefficiencies in the justice system leading to a situation where the justice and security systems are not credible. You cant speak to emancipation unless the people have a sense of justice," she said. Yesterday was observed as Emancipation Day, a public holiday.
"We knew the Prime Minister (a lawyer) would be here and we wanted to remind him of the issues and hope that this might end his silence," Ms Sobers said.
The protest is part of a series planned by FAST to demonstrate the inefficiencies of the justice system. FAST had made representation to international human rights groups for the seven young men killed in Braeton and for others, who they feel were unjustly killed by the police. They have consistently bemoaned the Prime Minister's silence on their issues.
