By: Kebba AF Touray
The Occupy Westfield protesters took to the street yesterday to vent out their dissatisfaction towards the conditions of the nation’s water and electricity supplier, NAWEC. They were in white T-shirts bearing the slogan: #OccupyWestfield.
Shortly after they assembled, no sooner were they told to disperse by police officers, who said it was in the interest of national security. During their conversation, the protesters urged the police to give them few minutes to hammer home their message, to which the security personnel disagreed and insisted that they should disperse. “What I am telling you, is for the purpose of security. I am urging you all to leave, without force. I am urging you to leave”, said one of the PIU officers.
The protesters on their side of the story said, they were exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and association as enshrined in the constitution and also lamented the actions taken by the police to revoke the permit that was issued to them to protest against NAWEC’s inability to provide electricity and water to Gambians. There were neither arrests nor causalities during the process.
The area was under tight security as police were stationed at various junctions to control the situation and prevent any protest from taking place.
