Derek Achong

Res­i­dents of a Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (HDC) apart­ment com­plex at low­er In­de­pen­dence Square in Port-of-Spain clashed with po­lice and HDC of­fi­cials as they were be­ing evict­ed this morn­ing.

The res­i­dents, most of whom have been as­signed al­ter­na­tive hous­ing as the HDC moves to de­mol­ish the com­plex as part of plans to de­vel­op east Port-of-Spain, claimed that they were shocked when HDC of­fi­cials guard­ed by heav­i­ly armed po­lice of­fi­cers ar­rived around 8 am and be­gan re­mov­ing their be­long­ings.

When a news team from Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the lo­ca­tion the res­i­dents were seen pack­ing their be­long­ings on­to flatbed trucks while still tak­ing the time to shout in­sults at HDC of­fi­cials who were in the process of re­mov­ing doors and win­dows from their apart­ments.

The move to evict the res­i­dents came one day af­ter Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP) leader Wat­son Duke marched in­to the HDC’s South Quay head­quar­ters on Fri­day and de­mand­ed to speak to an of­fi­cial about plans to re­lo­cate res­i­dents.

For near­ly two hours, Duke stood in the HDC’s main floor de­mand­ing in­for­ma­tion on the HDC’s re­lo­ca­tion pol­i­cy, much to the cha­grin of mem­bers of the pub­lic who were locked out­side while po­lice en­tered the build­ing to mon­i­tor his ac­tions.

How­ev­er, Min­is­ter of Hous­ing Camille Robin­son-Reg­is, who walked through a side en­trance at the time Duke was still in the build­ing, dis­missed Duke’s ac­tions as noth­ing more than a grab for at­ten­tion.

“Mr Duke is mak­ing a mock­ery of him­self,” Robin­son-Reg­is said.

“The re­lo­ca­tion is part of what we’re do­ing for the re­vi­tal­i­sa­tion of Port-of-Spain. The res­i­dents are well aware and they are be­ing de­cant­ed to oth­er ar­eas,” she added.

She said the HDC is not do­ing any­thing the res­i­dents of the area were not aware of and in agree­ment with. She said the HDC and the Min­istry have been talk­ing to the res­i­dents with the promise of bet­ter hous­ing for them. She said homes have been al­lo­cat­ed for the res­i­dents close to Port-of-Spain, but ac­knowl­edged some of the res­i­dents would be moved fur­ther away.

“Wher­ev­er we have units avail­able, we’ve been de­cant­i­ng peo­ple there. So, we have not been do­ing any­thing the law­ful res­i­dents are not ful­ly aware of,” Robin­son-Reg­is said.