Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro says the de­ci­sion to ex­tend the State of Emer­gency (SoE) for a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive three-month pe­ri­od was based on the con­tents of a clas­si­fied re­port he sub­mit­ted to the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil (NSC). He is al­so dis­miss­ing any no­tion that the ex­ten­sion is re­lat­ed to ten­sions be­tween this coun­try and Venezuela.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day on the ra­tio­nale be­hind the con­tin­u­a­tion of the SoE, the CoP stressed that the rec­om­men­da­tion did not come from him, but ad­mit­ted, “I sub­mit­ted a clas­si­fied re­port to the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil, which in­clud­ed op­er­a­tional as­sess­ments and rec­om­men­da­tions.”

Gue­var­ro added, “The de­ci­sion to ex­tend the State of Emer­gency falls square­ly with­in the re­mit of Par­lia­ment. It is not with­in the au­thor­i­ty of the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice or the TTPS to de­ter­mine its du­ra­tion.”