Ac­tivists against the ir­re­spon­si­ble use of fire­works say the noise lev­els this Di­vali were the worst they have ex­pe­ri­enced in years and are now ques­tion­ing whether they placed their trust in the new ad­min­is­tra­tion too soon.

Founder of the An­i­mals 360 Foun­da­tion and the Fire­works Ac­tion Coali­tion of T&T, Roger Mar­shall, in a phone in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, said mem­bers were in­un­dat­ed with mes­sages and calls from con­cerned cit­i­zens about the wide­spread use of fire­works dur­ing the Di­vali hol­i­day. He said they re­ceived re­ports from Diego Mar­tin, Ari­ma, South Oropouche, and El So­cor­ro, de­scrib­ing these ar­eas as a “war zone”. Fire­works were al­so heard in Mount Hope, Freeport, and Fe­lic­i­ty.

“It was shock­ing. We re­al­ly didn’t ex­pect that. We were re­al­ly alarmed. The an­i­mal shel­ters them­selves, you know, had a hor­ri­ble time,” he shared.