Weeks after Leader of the Democratic National Alliance Arinthia Komolafe and seven other members of her political party were arrested by police in connection with a protest the party held last month, a group of police officers harassed Komolafe and other DNA members on Sunday afternoon as they sought to assist Potters Cay Dock vendors who lost their businesses in a fire last week.
Komolafe said she believes the government is using the police force to intimidate its political opponents ahead of the next election.
She said her party was simply trying to help clean up the fire-damaged dock and lend a hand to business owners at Potters Cay when police officers left their posts and ordered them to stop.
She questioned how police could find the time to harass the group that is trying to do good when all boots should be on the ground searching for the gunmen who riddled a car with bullets, savagely killing six men who had just been released from custody and seriously injuring a two-year-old girl and 19-year-old woman.
“We’re out here helping our brothers and sisters and the state is using the police to intimidate us as politicians, as Bahamians helping our brothers and sisters rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a tragedy,” Komolafe said.
“Under this administration we are turning into a police state where the government is using the police to intimidate persons when there are tons of issues going on in this country.
“Young men died the other day in a mass shooting and we don’t know who did it. They should be suffocating the streets right now with police to find out who did it and you could come here on Potters Cay Dock to intimidate persons who are trying to rebuild their lives?”