Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is calling on acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams “to take careful note of what happened in the Parliament” when casino workers disrupted the Senate’s sitting on Thursday.
Speaking at the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) public meeting at the San Fernando City Hall on Friday night Rowley called the casino workers “rabble-rousers” that created “mob rule” in the Parliament.
During Thursday’s sitting of the Senate casino workers who were seated in the public gallery created havoc while Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West was speaking.
They were eventually escorted out of the Parliament building by police.
The Parliament also banned Maxine Gonzales, the spokesperson for the Members Clubs and Lottery Workers Union, and Robert Sagramsingh as a result of the situation.
Rowley said this country needs to begin regulating the gambling industry as it threatens to derail our banking system.
He accused a “member of the opposition who is a high price and high paid consultant to the gaming industry” for mobilising the casino workers to create “as much mayhem in the country as possible”.
Rowley said even elected officials have to abide by the rules of the Parliament.
The Members Clubs and Lottery Workers Union signalled that is has referred the Parliament ban to its attorney for an opinion and once advised would not hesitate to take legal action against the Senate President.
“The Union of Members Club and Lottery Workers stands fully behind our comrade Maxine Gonzales and defend her right to freedom of expression,” it stated in a release yesterday.
Gonzales was not given “an opportunity to be heard which natural justice demands” before the ban was imposed, it stated.
“The Speaker has begun along a very slippery slope by banning the people from the people’s chambers. This government is now insulating itself from the very people who they claim to represent. This act of banning is one often found in undemocratic nations and as such weakens our democracy,” the union stated.
It also questioned why Verna St Rose was not banned when she disrupted the Senate during the last administration.