These four heads of Linion Pep Morisien, namely Bruneau Laurette, Jean-Claude Barbier, Yvor Tan Yan and Dev Sunassee, are being targeted by the Police. They will be questioned about the Operation Go Slow along with 20 vehicles and 4 other individuals. But the latter do not find any basis for charges for their actions! This is what they put forward in this press briefing on 25 May.
“We did not do anything illegal”
A press to explain the misunderstanding of the authorities’ actions. Dev Sunassee has made it clear that he was confused. “We have acted in accordance with every law. We have not done anything illegal. We left Bell Village as promised after the exams, at 2.40pm. Now we learn from our sources, that ASP Seeparsand has recorded a complaint against us at 5.10 pm but at the end of the recorded complaint, it says ‘No Incident’. We also learn that the registration numbers of 20 vehicles have been taken and will also be called for questioning. Why is the CP talking about mass arrests and questioning of participants when the case is constitutional and everything was done within the law?”
Pranksters out-pranked!
Bruno Laurette continues this idea by pointing out that it is a case of the “Pranksters out-pranked”: “Where is the violation of the Public Gathering Act? What Unlawful Vehicular Procession are they talking about? There was no procession, no flag and no bullhorn. What bothers the police and the government is that we did nothing illegal. They were caught up in their own game, the game of the ‘watering can’. Our order was to drive at 20 km/h. Traffic was slowed down when they stopped and questioned me. We did not contact or communicate our route. We were not heading towards the Parliament. It was the Police who stopped us and asked us to head towards the Parliament. There were no indications for a diversion, I was in the leading vehicle. The Police is acting as Magistrates. I got information from internal friends that they want to put something against us. We’ll wait until Friday, but if the petrol price doesn’t go down, no, we’ll go down where we have to with flags, bullhorns and banners and in the company of two Sewerages Trucks! They won’t expect it,” said Bruneau Laurette.
Remake of ‘Minority Report’?
Ivor Tan Yan thanked the “thousands of anonymous people who have responded and are responding to the LPM call to action. We will share the declining rate of gasoline consumption during these days.” However, he concluded by asking “why are they going to question us? If we were trespassing, shouldn’t they have ticketed us on the spot? Is this a remake of the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise? Arresting a person before he does the crime, in this case, putting up roadblocks in a place before we even knew we were going to take that route.” He also questioned whether all these elements, including the SSU, had received the necessary requests to be at the locations taken in the photos. The Pep Morisien Union denounced a campaign of intimidation and demonization against them.
