ASSOU Square activities for 2020 have been described as a roaring success by the Castries Constituencies Council, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and the Saint Lucia Fire Service.
Corporal Ann Joseph, at a news conference yesterday said the two-day event was well policed resulting in no incidents of violence being recorded.
She had much praise for the City Police which she said assisted regular police officers admirably in performing duties expected of them throughout the course of the activities.
“We are more than pleased to report that there were no incidents of violence reported to the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and for that we wish to thank the members of the public, vendors and other patrons to the activities and our stakeholders,” Joseph said.
What helped police properly execute their duties on January 1st and 2nd might have well been the meeting they had with stakeholders to see how best they could police the activities.
Owen Cazaubon, Station Officer in the Department of Fire Prevention and Investigation within the Fire Service said his team was pleased with the way things were handled at the two-day event.
“At our end we tried to minimize the risk and if something were to happen, we would try to manage it. We had fire officers working along with the concessioners. We were there (Sir Derek Walcott Square) very early and on the ground, ensuring that fires would not develop. We had an ambulance on standby. We had nothing to report. It was a success,” he said.
CEO of the CCC, Wilfred Pierre said the collaborative measures of the two organizations plus others contributed to the success of the event.
He revealed that the large crowd that patronized the two-day event was anticipated hence the Constitution Park being allowed to hold the overflows of people from the Square.
“Overall we found it successful on our part. What was a concern to us was the amount of toy guns being sold. We have to somehow decide how we are going to address that because some of these toy guns look real,” Pierre said.
He highly commended the Council’s workers for cleaning the streets of the city right after activities ceased on the second day. According to Pierre someone walking the streets of the city after the event would never have believed that those very same streets had been littered with garbage, so clean were they on the third day, a seemingly impossible task made possible by the CCC’s cleaning team.
Going forward Pierre singled out the entertainment side of Assou Square as a component of the event that needs to be enhanced.
“We have to look at the entertainment to see whether we can have a really top artiste who can draw persons,” Pierre said, adding that more activities for children would also have to be factored in.
Mayor Peterson Francis believes the collaboration with the police, fire service, environmental health and other organizations was key to the success of the two-day event. He noted that the event which is hosted by the CCC, was not a financial burden to his organization.
Mayor Francis said a monetary value should not be placed on the event because of its cultural value to the nation.
“You cannot put a money value on culture,” Francis said, noting however that, financially speaking, last year the CCC did not register a loss by its hosting of the event.
