Police confirm that a person of interest is assisting with investigations into violent attacks against several members of the homeless community that occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Communications and Public Affairs Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss said that the Police Service received a report about 3 o’clock that a number of young people threw stones and other missiles at several homeless persons who were in Freedom Square in The City.
The Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) has also reported that it received complaints from several of its clients that there was a “brutal organized attack on them whilst in Independence Square, Heroes Square, Bay Street, Freedom Park, and the Treasury Building.”
BAEH President Kemar Saffrey in a statement said: “Several of our clients were seriously beaten, with one client’s injuries resulting in memory loss; another [was] stabbed; a female client was slapped in the face and several other clients received burst heads and [injuries] to their bodies.” He added that the victims were between 30 and 82 years old.
Saffrey strongly condemned the attacks and said the BAEH was working with the Barbados Police Service to bring “these hooligans to justice.”
“The BAEH wishes to remind the public that the homeless are human beings, and despite their situation must be treated as such. Violence against the homeless and vulnerable must not be tolerated, and we are therefore calling for the full weight of the law.”
The BAEH is also pleading with businesses located in the areas where the attacks occurred to share security camera footage with police to help bring the perpetrators to justice.
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