Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho will be in Nadi today to meet with his officers and get briefed on the approach they will take during the Fiji Trades Union Congress organized march on Saturday.
Qiliho says discussions will be based around the resources and capabilities they have at their disposal as well as the abilities to deploy if a need arises.
“So that’s what basically we’re going to discuss in detail the posture we’re going to take and also there are other issues that come with these type of events. Criminals might know that police manpower resources are committed to such an activity and might want to exploit the situation for their criminal activities so those are the things that we sit down and discuss in details so that we’re posturized to deal with these issues.”
The Police Chief yesterday gave a strict warning they will not hesitate to take action against anyone found breaking the law during the march.
FTUC General Secretary Felix Anthony says the march will specifically be for the workers of ATS that are still on strike and expects a huge crowd to turn up for the march.
“We’re not only expecting union members to be present and I think there’s a lot of support across the society and we have support from just about every organization that believes in justice that believes in human rights that believes in workers’ rights and so we’re expecting all these organizations to be part of the march as well.”
Anthony told FBC News he hopes Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama reconsiders his position and address the issues ATS strikers are currently facing.
However, Bainimarama this week called on Fijians not to let yourselves become tools for someone else’s political gain.
“My fellow Fijians, as you all know, with the election on the horizon this year, many of the usual faces will come forward with their usual political messages. And I’m sad to say that we’ve already started to hear many of the same false promises and see the same dirty tactics employed by those in the Opposition.”
The march will begin at 10am on Saturday through Nadi town to the Denarau Road and end at the Hotel Union office.
