Youth Body Condemns Auditorium Clash as ‘Unacceptable’

Outrage is growing over a viral video of Brian Swazo confronting a teenage basketball player at the Russell Garcia Auditorium, as more people demand accountability. The Child Advisory Body, representing young people across municipalities, has condemned the incident as unacceptable and urged authorities not to brush it aside. After a report made against him, Swazo was taken into police custody, and the National Sports Council faces mounting pressure as it investigates whether its strict non confrontation policy was breached. We speak with Richard Martinez, President of the Child Advisory Body branch in Dangriga today.

 

Richard Martinez, President, Dangriga Child Advisory Body

“My initial reaction and what I immediately had to ask myself, what could a fourteen-year-old could have possibly done to the point that would  warrant this sort of, this extent of violence being inflicted onto that person. And what also contributed to the feelings that we had, because I know that my fellow CAB members shared the same sentiments as me. And once, we saw the public reaction, most importantly,  we have people who were saying that children these days are disrespectful and rude and a whole bunch of stuff, quite frankly, little boy’s side of the story was never published. And so, the fact that people immediately jump to conclusions saying that that extent of violence was warranted or it’s okay, I was very appalled to say the least. And that’s why we decided to take a step by putting out our press release to ensure that everyone is aware that the Child Advisory Body is at work, and this particular matter is one that we definitely should not brush under the rug or treat as another news story because it definitely is one that can happen again. And once it does happen again, it can happen, ten times worse than before. And so we want to put a stop to it from now.”

 

The Child Advisory Body is urging organizations like UNICEF, NCFC, and the National Commission for Families and Children to speak out and reevaluate safe spaces, stressing that stronger action is needed to prevent future incidents of violence against children.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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