Tensions flared and violence erupted, at Wednesday night’s town meeting on illegal immigration at The British Colonial Hilton.
The fracas resulted in one man being escorted off the hotel’s premises. The Operation National Rescue (ONR) gathering was put on hold 45 minutes after it began, when a furious audience member got up and started screaming during presenter Paul D Moss’ address.
“What you talking about man. What the [expletive] you talking about,” screamed the agitated man who was replying to Mr Moss’ claim, that “children born to illegal parents must accompany them on the repatriation bus.”
Angry audience members then began shouting at the man who was flailing his arms erratically, while making his way to the front of the room. They chanted, “He is one of them. We don’t want them kind here.”
His journey to the podium was cut short, when three men in the audience immediately converged on him. The incident then escalated when the males began shoving the disruptive young man.
The potential brawl was interrupted when a friend of the raging man pulled him away and escorted him outside the ballroom.
Emcee Jeff Lloyd, then took hold of the microphone and tried to restore peace. But his pleas went unheard, as the agitated group became more unruly.
“See they is violent people. We need to get them out of here,” they shouted.
But the disruption did not end there. Five minutes after the initial outburst, the man again entered the back of the room and screamed “Haiti for life” while throwing torn paper in the air.
This then caused several other male audience members to rush outside after him. The Guardian followed the small crowd as they chased after the young man but he had already left the grounds when we had reached the lobby.
Back in the conference room, a state of calm was restored after 10 minutes and Mr Moss was allowed to continue his speech. At about 8:30 pm, law enforcement was brought in to monitor the situation.
But the incident left emotions running high for the remainder of the night, as the multitude continued to spew hateful remarks.
During the question and answer period, audience members voiced their suggestions for handling the illegal immigration problem.
One Acklin’s resident proposed that Haitian vessels caught smuggling illegal immigrants be sunk.
“I have a powerful 45 foot boat. My boat could run anywhere in The Bahamas within 10 hours,” he said. “I am willing to put my boat in between Inagua and Haiti and sink every Haitian vessel that comes through there.”
Another audience member suggested that all illegal immigrants be rounded up and “shot down.”
Former Immigration Minister Loftus A Roker, who was also a speaker at the meeting, quickly put a stop to the violent suggestions. Mr Roker said that he was against any illegal activity because it would make Bahamians no better than the illegal immigrants.
“I will not be a part of any [illegal] matter. You see, I am not going to be like the other fellow,” said Mr Roker. “We [are] now complaining about illegality on the part of people entering our country [and] I am not going to turn [into] an illegal fellow myself.
“The point is we have a government who should enforce the laws of The Bahamas,” he continued. “But we should not get engaged in illegal activities like crime to sink any ships on the high seas. So I don’t think we should take part in that.”
Despite the unscheduled interruption and tension-filed atmosphere, many audience members said they were glad they attended the meeting.
“It was enlightening,” said Joy Deveaux. “It really opened my eyes to see that a lot of Bahamians were just as angry as I was at the illegal situation.”
“I mean ‘yeah,’ there were some harsh comments but that had nothing to do with the panelist. They weren’t inciting anyone, the people came here mad because they’re frustrated with the situation,” said Angelino Ferguson. “The panelist just did a good job in outlining the problem and suggesting solutions. They can’t help what the peolpe say.”
According to the organizers of ONR, the meeting was held to voice the concerns of the Bahamian people.
In a press conference at Rawson Square on Monday morning, Chairman of the organization Dr Elwood Donaldson, said that the government was allowing illegal immigrants to “trample and take our heritage.”
Keynote (racist) speakers at the event included: A. Loftus Roker, Dr Elwood Donaldson, Paul D. Moss Jr and Glenroy Saunders.
Dr Donaldson called the event “the beginning of an active process to mobilize all concerned Bahamian citizens, to demand that grievances are addressed promptly, concerning the vexing problem of illegal immigration and its attending ills.”
By: JASMIN BONIMY, The Nassau Guardian
