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Tacarigua residents block traffic

...protest against 'police brutality'

By Rickie Ramdass rickie.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

ANGRY Tacarigua residents staged a protest on Wednesday over what they described as a case of police brutality.

Residents blocked the free flow of traffic along the Eastern Main Road by igniting garbage after a 35-year-old man was beaten by a group of men who residents claimed were police officers.

It was around 6 p.m., that the residents said the group of men dressed in civilian clothing came out of a vehicle with the word "police" written on it and confronted Anthony "Clarky" Clarke at the corner of Thavenot Street and the Eastern Main Road.

Residents said Clarke was beaten and later dragged into an abandoned house where he was left in an unconscious state.

After the men left the area, residents said they called the Emergency Health Services (EHS) and police to render assistance to the injured man but they failed to get an immediate response. This prompted the residents to embark on the protest action.

Sometime later, officers of the Tunapuna and Arouca Police Stations together with fire officers arrived on the scene, extinguished the burning garbage and cleared the roadway.

Police claimed a 12-gauge shotgun cartridge and eight rounds of nine millimetre ammunition was found in Clarke's possession and he was later charged for the offence.

He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where he was treated and later discharged.

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