Opposition leader, Philip J. Pierre, called for calm Tuesday as parliament considered a motion to extend the current state of emergency.
The government wants to extend the measure by another five months.
Nevertheless, Pierre said the state of emergency is not necessary.
He told reporters as he arrived for Tuesday’s meeting of the house that the move is the government’s excuse for mishandling the COVID-19 crisis.
He declared that Saint Lucia is the worst in the OECS in regard to the virus.
Nevertheless, Pierre acknowledged that the government did not cause COVID-19, but mismanaged the crisis.
“And now, since they have mismanaged, they want to make the people suffer,” he declared.
In this regard, Pierre said the government wants to initiate a war of the people and the police.
According to Pierre, the Allen Chastanet administration wants to turn the police against the people.
However the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) leader gave the assurance that ‘our party will tell our people to be calm’.
He also called on the police not to allow themselves to be used by politicians.
“The government is provoking,” Pierre explained.
“We have instructed our people that we have to be calm,” he told reporters.
And the SLP leader noted that June 6 is approaching, marking five years since the last general elections.
“What we are saying to people is ‘Be calm’,” he reiterated.
Pierre urged people to obey the law and work with the police.
“Deliverance day is nigh,” he asserted.
On Monday, police warned against ‘unlawful’ gatherings outside parliament saying they had gotten wind of a protest planned for Tuesday.
However Pierre said the SLP had not organised any protest.
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