After the latest massacre: EMERGENCY DECLARED | Local news

Within hours of a massacre in Prizgar Lands, Laventille, the Prime Minister on Monday morning approved the declaration of a state of emergency.

In a statement from the Ministry of Communications, citizens were told that President Christine Kangaloo, on the advice of the Prime Minister, had declared the state of emergency, being convinced that the circumstances of Article 8(2)C of the Constitution exist.

“The circumstances justifying the declaration of the public emergency are based on advice from the TTPS to the National Security Council of increased criminal activity which endangers public safety.”

In Laventille overnight, five men were gunned down in an apartment, the latest in a series of killings linked to gang warfare across the east-west corridor.

In the President’s executive order it was stated: “I am satisfied that a public emergency has arisen as a result of the occurrence or immediate threat by any person, of such a nature and of such magnitude as is likely to bring the public safety at risk…”

The last time a state of emergency was declared in Trinidad and Tobago was in 2021 to allow restrictions to combat the Covid-19 virus.

In 2014, during the tenure of the People’s Partnership government, an SoE was also triggered in response to a crime wave that has never abated to this day.

This country has recorded at least 620 murders, an unprecedented number.