Arrests mar Dominica's Carnival

by Paul Charles

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

ROSEAU, Dominica: Local police reported on Tuesday that one officer was injured and close to thirty people have been arrested and detained for violent acts and burglaries over the past few days of Dominica's carnival celebrations.

Superintendent in the Criminal Investigations Department Cyril Carrette disclosed that some young men beat a policeman, while several others were nabbed for violence from Saturday to Monday.

Carrette added that burglary was also on the increase as thieves targeted residences left unattended by homeowners during the celebrations.

He also said that those in the lock-up would be brought to the magistrate courts to answer charges on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, Dominicans and their visitors on Tuesday experienced the last lap of two days of street jump up throughout the island. 

Dampened by a weak economy nationals stuck true to their forte of having an original carnival. Revellers decked in whatever they could muster danced and sang popular upbeat calypsos in the capital. 

There were noticeably less costumed bands and buntings, and fewer visitors here for the pre-lenten celebrations this year.

Though it will take a few days before the Road March king is known, the 2004 Calypso Monarch Dennison ''De Dice'' Joseph, seemed to be the front runner with his popular rendition, ''Animal Farm.''

The song is a political satire likening parliamentarians' and society's behaviour to animals on a farm. 

A 20-year-old mathematics teacher Elhanna Alexis was crowned Miss Dominica last weekend. 

Controversy over the results of shows was absent this year, a rare feat in an island known for disappointments over judges' decisions. 

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