Dominicans remember the May 29, 1979, as that fateful day that changed their country forever

Thirty-three years ago on the morning of May 29, 1979 over 10,000 demonstrators gathered around the government Headquarters in Roseau, Dominica to protest the passage of two controversial bills. In just hours one young man 23-year-old Phillip Timothy laid dead, and 9 others were sent to hospital nursing bullet wounds.
 
That day was to mark the beginning of the end of Patrick Roland John’s Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Administration. Just four years prior, the DLP had swept into power in a massive landslide at the polls. It was the day that would forever change Dominica’s political landscape.
 
Mayhem ensued on that day after members of the Dominica Defence Force opened fire on protestors who were adamant that John withdraw the bills, which were said to be aimed at curbing the influence of Trade Unions on the island.
 
Before the shooting started, protestors began hurling rocks at the government building hoping to get the attention of Parliamentarians gathered inside, where debate was scheduled to take place. Scores of policemen at the scene were easily overwhelmed as the restless crowd swelled throughout the morning.
 
With the police on the run, the Defence Force soldiers who were acting very much as John’s private army converged on the crowds and indiscriminately opened fire.
 
The protest was the culmination of months of agitation by the public against an administration caught up in several scandals. Following his win at the polls, the young charismatic leader, Patrick John, put in place the Dread Act, which gave law enforcement the right to kill and otherwise detain scores of Rastafarian youth, or Dreads as they called, who had made their homes in Dominica’s lush mountains.
 
Repeated raids by Police on their hideouts had resulted in several deaths and a growing unease among the population. In 1977, the powerful trade unions embarked on a 77-day strike, which resulted in the near total shutdown of the island. Later, John is said to have entered into negotiations with an American named Don Pierson, allegedly to turn Portsmouth into a free port and a haven for casino gambling.
 
With the country tethering on the brink, and becoming increasingly wary of the shenanigans of the John Labour Party government, the crowds gathered on that fateful morning. Bus loads of persons drove from the villages into the town, businesses closed their doors and schools were shut down for the day.
 
In the ensuing fallout from the tragic events of May 29, 1979 several government ministers resigned paving the way for a Committee for National Salvation to take over governing the country, and leading to the eventual replacement of Prime Minister Patrick Roland John’s administration, with a coalition government, headed by Oliver Seraphin as Interim Prime Minister.