QUESTIONS are being asked about the outcome of Tuesday’s protest in support of the local cricketer, Daren Sammy ahead of the opening day of the 3rd West Indies vs India Test.
Reports are circulating that the day’s event turned out to be a major flop after the number who showed up to show their support for the cause was minimal.
The highest number of protesters who showed up at any one time was nearly 70, however, judging from the momentum the movement had gathered on social media over the past week, it was believed that unified Sammy Supporters would have showed up in the hundreds.
In no time, reports from local media houses began to circulate that the protest was unsuccessful and ineffective as the Test match between the West Indies and the Indian cricket teams went on as scheduled.
As a result of these reports, Tuesday’s protest has been heavily criticised and ridiculed even more so. But protestors said they felt that their mission to broadcast their message of support for Sammy and to expose the “misdeeds” of the West Indies Cricket Board had been accomplished.
They said had it been only two of them present, as long as the international media picked up their story, they would have succeeded.
Yassy Hippolyte, who was one of the protestors on site said: “The coverage that we’ve gotten, especially from the international media, the media from India, they came here and they really showed their support and they said that Daren is very much appreciated in India and that they will be carrying our interviews over in their country.”
According to Hippolyte, protestors were interviewed by at least two international media houses as well as sports broadcasting giant ESPN.
When asked what she was hoping to achieve from the movement, Hippolyte said: “I think that what we were hoping to achieve has been achieved because it showed a message that we are not going to stand by and let this happen. We are showing that Daren Sammy is not in this alone and that he has an entire country behind him. We are saying that Daren is our hero, we love him and we are here to support him.”
The fight is not over as the protesters expressed plans for coming back bigger and stronger before the test is over on Saturday.
based on the photos it was only a handful people protesting, not a large crowd.