Prince Edward and Sophie welcomed with 'down with neo-colonialism'
The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, and Sophie, were greeted coldly, with demands for reparations.
-
Protesters holding "down with neo-colonialism" banners
The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines welcomed two members of the British royal family, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, on Saturday, but a group of protesters voiced their opposition to the visit and called instead for reparation for African slavery.
The protesters held banners reading "end to colonialism" and "CompensationNow".
Desha Jackson, 47, said, as quoted by The Guardian, she is present at the protest to show her “disgust and disappointment” for those who “over 400 years, had to suffer the slave master’s whip."
“This wrong was done against a sector of the human race by another and this wrong must be compensated,” Jackson added.
Protesters included Jomo Thomas, a former chair of St Vincent, and the Grenadines National Reparations Committee. He demanded that Britain pay reparations.
#ANTIGUA: A strongly-worded open letter to the British royal family renewing calls for an apology for the role Britain played in the transatlantic slave trade has been released ahead of Monday’s visit by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. pic.twitter.com/VLKfkkpPUp
— CaribbeanNewsNetwork (@caribbeannewsuk) April 23, 2022
“They hunted us down, they kidnapped us, they stole us, they worked us. They owe us and they must now pay us,” he stressed.
The protests are the latest squabble to erupt in the aftermath of recent Royal visits to the area.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge faced protests in Jamaica and the Bahamas last month.
In addition, Prince Edward and Sophie's visit to Grenada was abruptly canceled last week. Grenada's Slavery Reparations Commission had requested to meet with the couple.
The next stop on the Wessexes' tour will be Antigua and Barbuda, where things could get even more chaotic. Dorbrene O'Marde, the chairman of the local Reparations Support Commission, has warned that more protests are likely.
In the United Kingdom, the National Council of St Vincent and the Grenadines urged the royals to reconsider future Caribbean visits.
