Second March Planned In Suva, Says Anthony
The Fiji Trades Union Congress is planning a second march to be held in Suva, says general secretary Felix Anthony.
He made the announcement after the Nadi march yesterday in support of striking Air Terminal Service workers.
The ATS workers have vowed not to give up until their grievances are met. National Secretary of the Federated Airline Staff Association Vilikesa Naulumatua said that they would protest for as long as it took until they achieved what they wanted. Mr Anthony said of the Nadi march: “We are pleased with the support from the workers, their families and general public and it was beyond our expectation.”
“FTUC is prepared to assist in this process as much as it can and we certainly hope that the government will listen to the people of this country.”
Mr Anthony said FTUC had applied for a permit for the second march on February 24. Police said 2500 people marched through the main street of Nadi yesterday.
Six buses came from Suva carrying supporters.
Singing the national anthem and other songs, the march went through without any hiccup.
Police chief of operations ASP Rusiate Tudravu said they had enough officers to help with traffic flow and carry out normal Police work.
“The march was an incident-free event. Close to 200 police officers were deployed and monitored the situation to ensure the over 2500 crowd participating in the event abided by the conditions set out in the permit as well as ensuring the safety of other members of the public who were in Nadi town,” he said. Police officers were out in numbers given that this was a busy time of the year. “The deployment of the officers was because it was a busy shopping day and parents and guardians and their children were using the opportunity to squeeze in some last-minute back to school shopping in the jet set town.”
The march ended at Nadi District School where there was a concert to raise funds for the strikers.