The Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) has de­fend­ed its de­ci­sion to ar­rest so­cial ac­tivist Alyssa Phillip dur­ing the Labour Day pro­ces­sion in Fyz­abad, say­ing she was charged af­ter al­leged­ly lead­ing an unau­tho­rised march and fail­ing to com­ply with po­lice in­struc­tions to dis­perse.

Phillip was charged with be­ing the leader of a march and fail­ing to call on the march to dis­perse, dis­or­der­ly be­hav­iour, and re­sist­ing ar­rest.

An­oth­er in­di­vid­ual, Camille Cares­quero, who po­lice iden­ti­fied as a par­tic­i­pant in the pro­ces­sion, was al­so charged with be­ing present at a march and fail­ing to dis­perse, ob­struct­ing a po­lice of­fi­cer, and re­sist­ing ar­rest.