Top Cop: Police “ought not” to have entered Parliamentary Chambers

Police Commissioner (acting) David Ramnarine Friday said that the Police presence in the Parliamentary Chambers to evict Parliamentarian, Juan Edghill “ought not to have occurred” but said “it did” and that important lessons have been learnt from “such an unfortunate situation.”

“It would be good for us to contemplate that in certain circumstances necessity knows no law,” Ramnarine stated.

It is still unclear at this time who summoned the Police to evict Mr Edghill when he defied an order of Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland to leave the Chamber.

“Regrettably, and unfortunately, law enforcement officials can sometimes find themselves between a rock and a hard place and in these situations, they have to contemplate, in a matter of seconds the ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ philosophy of preventive policing,” Ramnarine stated.

Two hours had expired from the time the consideration of the Budget Estimates started on Monday and Mr Edghill wanted more time to scrutinise projects under the Ministry of the Presidency. When Edghill was told that no more time would be allowed and that he should take his seat, the Parliamentarian refused and was deemed “out of order” and asked to leave the Chamber. He refused, and the Police emerged to evict him when the Sergeant-at-Arms was unable to.

In a dramatic turn of events, a sizeable number of Policemen then entered the Chamber and tried to force their way to Edghill, who was surrounded by several Parliamentarians of the Opposition. A scuffle ensued and the Policemen retreated.

The Speaker never resumed the sitting that day and Mr Edghill left just after 22:00hrs. He was arrested on the road outside Public Buildings on Tuesday and released after a short time.  He was suspended from Parliament for the rest of the week.