The Court of Ap­peal has ruled that the State act­ed un­law­ful­ly when it de­ployed the De­fence Force to de­mol­ish a protest camp erect­ed by Dr Wayne Kublals­ingh and the High­way Re-Route Move­ment (HRM) in 2012. The judg­ment, de­liv­ered by Jus­tice of Ap­peal Pe­ter Ra­jku­mar, af­firmed that the State vi­o­lat­ed the con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of the pro­test­ers and must pay dam­ages.

In a 70-page rul­ing, the court de­clared: “The ac­tions of the then Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty in req­ui­si­tion­ing and/or de­ploy­ing the De­fence Force for the pur­pose of forcibly re­mov­ing the oc­cu­pants of the protest camp and de­mol­ish­ing it were un­law­ful, con­trary to the rule of law, and con­tra­vened the re­spon­dent’s rights un­der sec­tion 4 (b) of the Con­sti­tu­tion to the pro­tec­tion of the law.”

It added: “The de­mo­li­tion of the protest camp was un­law­ful and al­so con­tra­vened the re­spon­dents’ rights un­der sec­tion 4 (a) of the Con­sti­tu­tion.”