Labor unions: “Constitutional rights were violated”

Representatives of the labor unions reportedly stated that the important constitutional rights of the Surinamese people were violated when the police squashed Tuesday’s peaceful protest. “Each citizen has the constitutional right to protest. The right to protest peacefully is written in Article 21 of the Constitution,” said the labor movement. “Yesterday was a sad day for the democracy of the Surinamese people in general and the labor movement in particular. Our constitutional rights were violated and yesterday’s police actions were completely unnecessary”, the organizations stated in separate press releases.

Representatives of the labor union federations C-47, PWO and FAL and the teacher unions BvL and ALS which were supported by the ‘Citizens’ Collective (BC) reportedly all are under the impression that the protest was peaceful but that police officers then reportedly activists such as Curtis Hofwijk and Bryan Boerleider reportedly were arrested. The representatives of the organizations mentioned above reportedly criticized the use of violence against peaceful protestors and demanded the immediate release of two other protesters who were still in police custody. The unions’ peaceful protests reportedly are aimed at rejecting the sudden hike of the fuel tax or government take and the growing impoverishment of the Surinamese people as a result of the government’s mismanagement.