While fireworks have become a tradition to ring in the new year, January 1, 2016 was a like a night of terror for a La Romaine family, who have now started an online petition calling on Government to regulate the use of the explosives.
For Josephine Aché, Old Year’s night into New Year’s Day for her family was like time in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Pakistan, where people living there cower from the frequent sound of bombing.
So terrible and rapid were the explosions, Aché claimed her mother almost suffered a heart attack and her head and nerves were pounding throughout the night. Her fears were shared by many members of her Facebook group page, titled “Regulating The Use of Fireworks in Trinidad & Tobago,” which she set up to lobby for her cause.
In a letter to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Aché made an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to ban the outright sale and use of fireworks by the general citizenry and have only organised fireworks displays that are conducted by authorised bodies.
She said they should immediately move to enforce the laws which are there but are conveniently being ignored by the authorities.
Recalling the holiday horror, she said activity, including the use massive rocket launchers and scratch bombs— started in her Bel Air, La Romaine community on Old Year’s (December 31) at approximately 6 pm and went until 3 am New Year Day (January 1).
“My mother almost had a heart attack. My heart was jumping out of my skin every few minutes.
“My head was pounding, my nerves were wrecked. No one should have to go through what we did, as did so many other citizens nationwide,” Aché said.
Although New Year’s Day was rainy, she said there were stories of children cowering under blankets and pets frantically trying to escape as a result of the terrifying noise. For many, it was difficult to distinguish the difference between fireworks and gunshots. Aché said the fireworks issue was a national matter and must be addressed in the soonest possible time frame.
Within the last few days, a three-month-old baby was burnt by a firecracker while wrapped in a blanket in his mother’s arms at City Gate, Port-of-Spain, while a six-year-old boy and a 68-year-old woman were also shot dead while observing fireworks at Beetham Gardens, Port-of-Spain.
Referring to these cases on Saturday, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General Stuart Young expressed concern about the increasing amount of incidents involving firecrackers. He said his personal view was that there needed to be a review the use of fireworks which may need to be legislated.
He said he had received complaints from his constituents and had seen a video on social media with what appeared to be men shooting at each other with the use of fireworks.
Anyone interested in signing Aché’s petition can use the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/242/291/009/