PM Gonsalves Attacker Detained by St. Vincent Police

St Vincent & the Grenadines Police arrested a woman as a suspect in the attack on Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Thursday.

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St. Vincent PM Injured During Protest Against Covid Measures

"A woman has been arrested; there may be more. She wanted to apologize to the Prime Minister. I said no, she is not going in front of my political leader to do what. Because you got locked up, you want to apologize," Government Senator Julian Francis said, as quoted by News784.

On Thursday afternoon, about 200 citizens gathered around the House of Assembly in Kingstown to protest against the Public Health Amendment Bill, which requires certain categories of state employees to take COVID-19 vaccine in order to work in specified frontline jobs, as reported by outlet Kevz Politics.

Unable to enter the House of Assembly, the citizens blocked the entrances to the building, forcing Gonsalves to get out of his vehicle and try to enter on foot. At that instant, a demonstrator launched a projectile towards the head of the Prime Minister, who began bleeding profusely and was taken to a nearby hospital. There he spent the night waiting to be transferred to Barbados, where the doctors will do an MRI to monitor his health properly.

The tweet reads, "Tensions on the Saint Vincent & the Grenadines in the Caribbean over the compulsory vaccination plan. PM Minister Ralph Gonsalves suffered head injuries during the protests."

"He... reaffirmed that no lawless mob will prevent him from doing the people’s business in the seat of our democracy," the Office of the Prime Minister stated.

"In spite of his injuries, the PM welcomed all peaceful demonstrations as a fundamental right... but cautioned that legitimate peaceful demonstration should in no way impede parliamentarians' rights of entrance and egress from the House of Assembly. Moreover, the use of violence in pursuit of political purposes is entirely unacceptable," it added.

So far, the St. Vincent authorities have not reported the identity of the arrested woman or provided additional details about other people who were also involved.