By Peter Green
What was supposed to be a magnificent 2027 band launch for Lost Tribe, turned out to be a melee on Sunday morning.
Members of the Silver Stars Steel Orchestra clashed with members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Why?
The entire launch was supposed to end at 2 am on Sunday, but despite requests to stop, the steel band members continued to play after the stoppage time.
From there it turned ugly. Plainclothes police officers ordered the band to stop. The steel band members refused and when the police intervened, there was a brawl. The situation escalated when one of the police officers allegedly grabbed the sticks from a drummer and threw down the drums, leading to the scuffle.
Several members of the Silver Stars band were arrested and taken to the Belmont Police Station. One member was injured and taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment.
Eyewitnesses to the brawl told Sunshine Today that as far as they were concerned, the police acted unreasonable and with haste.
Later on Sunday, Pan Trinbago President, Beverly Ramsey-Moore, visited the Belmont Police Station with relatives of some of the detainees. Neither Ramsey-Moore nor Pan Trinbago, has issued a statement on the matter. Neither has the Police Service.
The brawl happened in the North Stand, near the VIP section, where several Government Ministers had earlier attended, but had left.
The brawl was video-taped and uploaded to social media. The videos showed pans strewn across the North Stand and some members trapped underneath.
Hundreds attended the event at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Saturday night. It was the presentation of Lost Tribe for 2027, “Stories in the Sand”, which pays tribute to Arab culture, infusing desert style fashion and decorations with Trinidadian Carnival.
The event also served as a launch to Bliss, Harts and Tribe, which also exist under the Tribe umbrella of bands.
