PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Police have charged Fuad Abu Bakr, leader of the New National Vision (NNV) political party, with several crimes, following his arrest last month as persons protested the killing of three people by police.
“Abu Bakr, Faud”Bakr is the son of Muslim leader Yasin Abu Bakr, who in 1990 staged a failed coup here.
According to media reports, the NNV leader had been slapped with three counts of assaulting a police officer at a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest near the United States embassy earlier in June.
In relation to the June 30 protests, Bakr was charged with using violent language to provoke persons to commit a breach of the peace and breaking the COVID-19 regulations that prevents more than 25 people gathering at any one time.
Bakr was arrested while doing a live video of the protest action here that Police Commissioner Gary Griffith and National Security Minister Stuart Young said was well orchestrated and aimed at de-stabilizing the country.
At least one person, a woman, was killed during the protest on June 30 and the police said they had foiled a “well-orchestrated plan to de-stabilize the country” and arrested 72 people.
