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  • 5 hours ago
The House of Representatives has began its debate on an extension to the new State of Emergency in this country.

The Attorney General said any threat of violence will be met by the serious resources of the Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, the Chief Whip dismissed any claims that the Opposition is not in support of law enforcement.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00The threat of violence will be met with all of the resources, the serious resources, of the armed forces in
00:13Trinidad and Tobago.
00:17Attorney General John Jeremy as he began the debate of two motions for the new state of emergency in Trinidad
00:23and Tobago on Friday evening.
00:25The Attorney General reiterated the government's stance that there is a difference between the new state of emergency and the
00:31one declared the last year and one declared by the former PNM administration on December 30, 2024.
00:38The day after they declared the state of emergency, a state prosecutor involved in the trial of one of those
00:50people that my Prime Minister put in Tetra, who was boasting about the murder of that state prosecutor.
01:03As for the present state of emergency, the Attorney General told the Parliament that the National Security Council chaired by
01:09Prime Minister Kamala Pesad-Besessa advised the president that a state of public emergency existed in Trinidad and Tobago following
01:16intelligence the NSC received about specific threats posed by criminal gangs.
01:23The AG said the NSC was also advised of threats to police officers and other members of the protective services.
01:33The NSC was advised that criminal gangs had increased acts of violence on a scale so extensive that they had
01:45resulted in multiple deaths, in mass shootings, and that that would continue to endanger public safety.
01:55The Attorney General then gave the lower house an update regarding the new SOE.
02:00The TTPS and the Defense Force commenced strategic operations.
02:08Those operations will continue in an intelligence-led, targeted, and deliberate matter until these threats to public safety are curtailed.
02:22The House is asked to note that a state of public emergency existed dated the 2nd of March 2026, with
02:34effect from the 3rd of March 2026.
02:39The government is seeking an extension of the SOE by three months, a vote which only requires a simple majority
02:45of the elected MPs.
02:48Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, our Prime Minister has called us to the House.
02:54This is not the 15th day of the, this is not the last hour.
02:59She has called us to meet an exigent threat.
03:04We are here to ask for an extension of the state of emergency.
03:12Chief Whip Marvin Gonzalez was the first to speak in the debate on behalf of the opposition.
03:19So when the Attorney General could come here today, Mr. Speaker, and give the impression that this opposition was never
03:28in support of the government or never in support of law enforcement,
03:32it must be rejected out of hand, it must be rejected, Mr. Speaker.
03:39Because we said time and time again that we will always stand on the side of law enforcement, Mr. Speaker.
03:47The debate on the motions for the SOE continued after 7.30 p.m.
03:54Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:56The details about PLs in the
03:58...
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