Teachers across the country went on strike today - shutting down most schools, and more of the same is planned for tomorrow.
We'll tell you about that shortly, but first to the hottest news of the day - and that's the tyre fire that was set on the Belcan Bridge. It happened just after 4:00 this afternoon
We have not be been able to find exactly who is responsible for the fire, but what we do know is that a heap of tires were quickly assembled on the Belcan bridge right at the beginning of rush hour traffic. It was lit, blocking the bridge on both sides. Fortunately, the Fire Department's Cleghorn Street station is very close to the bridge, and before it could get out of hand, they put the fires out. Police swarmed the area, stopping persons from crossing over for about half hour or so, and when the fire had been doused, 2 persons were hauled away.
Those men are Belize City Residents, Fitz Howard, Perry "Stix" Smith, who you may recognize as the organizer of Days of Healing initiative. We were there when the police hauled them away in the back of a police mobile, and their fellow community activist, Jose Luis Espat, told us that police took away the wrong men. Here's how that went:
Victim
"Why don't you all arrest everyone who has on green shirt? Arrest everyone who has on a green shirt. That is what you are arresting me for."
Jose Luis Espat, Community activist
"I was at the gate going in when the guys outside starting to yelled there is a fire on the bridge. So I took out my phone and I ran up the bridge and as I ran up the bridge I saw some tyres blazing, so I have the video. What I saw was a traffic officer trying to hold up the traffic and I saw a person come out of one of those regular city bus and they started to accommodate some tyres and so forth. The person is in the video, I don't know if you could see or identify through that video, but what I saw here was the police wrongfully arresting 2 guys. I don't know the first one in the green shirt, but I know the other guy that was here, he was with us at the teachers' thing as well. So I am telling you with a video evidence that they wrongfully arrested that man."
Reporter
"When it comes to the ones who are to blame for what occurred out here, you are known as an activists. You are known as someone who associates with the 2 gentlemen who are out here. Did you know the person who you saw in that video?"
Jose Luis Espat, Community activist
"I associate with Mr. Rivers, I associate with Mr. Brackett and as far as I am concern and by the law of this country, association is no crime. That does not mean that we had anything to do with this. Association in any country is no crime."
Reporter
"You say you were at the rally. You heard what Geovannie Brackett said, he said things may get a little bit unruly and immediately after you see something like this happening."
Jose Luis Espat, Community activist
"It doesn't mean that it's him. It doesn't mean that it's any of us. I am an activist and I will tell you, I am all for peace. If you ask me personally now and my answer has nothing to do with the tyres burnt on that bridge, If you ask me this country warrants a national shutdown. I am not talking violence. I'm speaking that every public worker, every doctor, every nurse, every stevedore, every teacher, every carpenter, every person, every 300,000 plus persons need to let this government understand you cannot play with us, you can no longer take us for fools anymore."
This evening, we spoke with Geovannie Brackett by telephone and he told us that he had nothing to do with that fire on the bridge. He said that he was at the BNTU event when he was alerted like everyone else that there was commotion on the Belcan Bridge. He said the he was around to assist the two detained men legal representation.
Of course, the event was staged to evoke the events of 2005 when an afternoon fire on Belcan Bridge led to riots and looting in downtown Belize City. But while this one was quickly put out and clearly the work of opportunists trying to start something, that one was organic, as it was backed up by UB students and union figures who had already been blocking the bridge.
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