Con­tro­ver­sy erupt­ed on Mon­day night, as of­fi­cers from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) swooped down on the Cou­va Car­ni­val Cen­tre and or­dered of­fi­cials of the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (CCC) to shut down all op­er­a­tions with three bands still to per­form on stage.

At 11 pm, an of­fi­cer who gave his name as Sgt Samuel, in­struct­ed CCC chair­man Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal Maraj to shut down all op­er­a­tions, al­though one band was po­si­tioned on the west­ern ramp of the stage ready to pa­rade be­fore the judges and there was a size­able crowd on hand.

Sgt Samuel said he was act­ing on the in­struc­tions of the Car­ni­val Gold Com­man­der, Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Suzette Mar­tin, to shut down Car­ni­val op­er­a­tions by 10 pm, adding that Cou­va had been al­lowed to go be­yond that time.