The Op­po­si­tion has firm­ly stat­ed it will not sup­port any gov­ern­ment ini­tia­tive to clas­si­fy in­dis­crim­i­nate shoot­ings as acts of ter­ror­ism—a stance that one crim­i­nol­o­gist warns could neg­a­tive­ly im­pact re­gion­al tourism.

While Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has dis­missed the pro­pos­al as a “PR gim­mick,” two for­mer po­lice com­mis­sion­ers have ex­pressed sup­port for the move.

On Fri­day, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley told re­porters dur­ing the clos­ing me­dia con­fer­ence for the 48th Reg­u­lar Meet­ing of the Con­fer­ence of Heads of Gov­ern­ment in Bar­ba­dos that “acts of vi­o­lence in the pub­lic space in cer­tain in­stances must now be re­gard­ed as acts of ter­ror­ism.”