Protesters plan to step up activities this weekend

PARAMARIBO (CMC):

The organisers of protest action against the policies of the government of President Chandrikapersad Santokhi have promised to step up their activities this weekend in a bid to force the administration to meet their demands.

“Santokhi has been given a chance because … he has gone through city and district, inland … door to door. We are going to do that too. This coming weekend we will also go into the ghettos,” said Team Organic, the main organisers behind the street protest here over the past few days.

“Everywhere this government has been to win votes, we’re going to ask the people if they voted for this,” the group added.

Team Organic said it was pleased with the second day of protest, with one of the leaders, Sergio Gentle, saying “we’re going to scale up” and that the organisation plans to protest until their demands are met.

“Every time there is a kink, a kink in the history of Suriname, it’s our own people – not the coloniser – but our own people who deny and embarrass us. This can’t be! I’m doing this because I don’t want my children and their children to come here too.

“It’s downright ridiculous. The 17th richest country on earth! What have we achieved? No sustainable development in Suriname. But every government has a master plan and a battery of experts,” he told the protesters.

On Tuesday, the protesters turned down a request by President Santokhi to meet with him, demanding instead that his government change its socio-economic policies or resign.

“What is wrong must be fixed. No blaming others. What can we do better? We will make even more effort to communicate even better, more clearly and more often. That applies to the entire government,” said President Santokhi, who was forced to cancel a trip to Paraguay to attend the Mercosur and Prosur summits.

Team Organic said President Santokhi’s statement did not specify which of the group’s demands he’s willing to discuss, outlining their 11-point action plan for a better Suriname.