Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says her Gov­ern­ment will not back down from reg­u­la­tions re­strict­ing ac­cess to 15 no-protest zones across Trinidad and To­ba­go, de­spite threats of le­gal ac­tion from a coali­tion of trade unions.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar dis­missed con­cerns raised by the Pro­gres­sive In­de­pen­dent Trade Unions, an amal­ga­ma­tion of 13 af­fil­i­at­ed unions, ar­gu­ing that the re­stric­tions un­der­mine con­sti­tu­tion­al free­doms and lim­it long-es­tab­lished labour rights.

“I sug­gest that the unions should fo­cus on work­ing with the Gov­ern­ment on is­sues that would ac­tu­al­ly ben­e­fit their mem­bers. Every cit­i­zen can protest any­where in the coun­try be­sides these 15 places. The DPP’s of­fice, the two air­ports, the port, De­fence Force head­quar­ters, TTPS head­quar­ters, Min­istry of Fi­nance, Pres­i­dent’s House, etc., are high se­cu­ri­ty ar­eas, so you can’t have large gath­er­ings in front these places that gangs may in­fil­trate. It’s just com­mon sense,” the Prime Min­is­ter said.