Kingstown — Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves will be flown to Barbados for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the extent of the injuries he sustained when he was struck in the head as he walked through a protest here on Thursday.
“I want to inform the public that on the analysis and advice of the medical professionals at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, a decision has been taken that it is necessary to fly the prime minister to Barbados to receive and MRI consequent on the injuries,” his son, Camillo Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of Finance, told Parliament during a very late Thursday night session.
“I want to say that clearly. This is not some scratch. This was an attempt on the prime minister,” said the Finance Minister.
“I want to thank, on behalf of the government, Prime Minister [Mia] Mottley, and her team in Barbados for making the necessary arrangements tonight to fly the honourable prime minister to Barbados to receive that MRI. That is the seriousness we are talking about today,” he said.
“But I am fortified by Almighty God, and I am fortified by the Prime Minister’s favourite song, by Prince Buster, they could lick him down, you could knock him down, he would bounce right back, ’cause he is a hard man fe dead,” the Finance Minister said.
Earlier, a government statement said that Gonsalves, 74, would remain in hospital here overnight, after he was struck with an object during protest that had been organised by the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and two public sector unions as their supporters took to the streets to condemn proposed changes to the Public Health Act.
The government has said the amendment to the legislation would allow for the vaccination of public sector workers, considered to be frontline workers, and it is proposing to remove the word “voluntary” from a section of the law that speaks to vaccination against an illness that has triggered the declaration of a public health emergency — as is the case with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said that Gonsalves had informed his colleagues that his is recovering, and reaffirmed that “no lawless mob will prevent him from doing the people’s business in the seat of our democracy”.
The statement said that Gonsalves “strongly reiterated his belief in the solemnity of the vote as a cornerstone of parliamentary democracy and basis of governmental legitimacy.
“In spite of his injuries, the Prime Minister welcomed all peaceful demonstration as a fundamental right enshrined in our Constitution, but cautioned that legitimate peaceful demonstration should in no way impede parliamentarians’ rights of entrance and egress from the House of Assembly.
“Moreover, the use of violence in pursuit of political purposes is entirely unacceptable. We expect that the perpetrator of the actual act of violence will be brought to justice,” the statement said, adding “such an act is to be unequivocally condemned”.
“Equally to be condemned are the instigators and back-room authors of this kind of violence,” it noted.
In a brief statement, the Opposition Leader and NDP president, Dr Godwin Friday said he too “condemn the act of violence today against the Prime Minister Dr Gonsalves and wish him a speedy recovery”.
In its statement, the NDP said that it strongly condemns violence in any form and condemns those responsible for the assault of Dr Gonsalves, as well as the assault of a protester . . .”.
It said that the protester “sustained a wound to his head when he was struck . . . by a police officer,” adding “we trust that perpetrators will be brought to justice”.
In its statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said Gonsalves, “duly elected Prime Minister . . . was physically assaulted and wounded by Opposition demonstrators while attempting to enter the House of Assembly”.
It said “approximately 200 demonstrators, responding to a call to action from the Leader of the Opposition, picketed the Parliament and blocked the entrance to building”. (CMC)
