Attorney General John Jeremie SC has condemned accusations of apartheid raised by Opposition MP Stuart Young during Friday’s debate in the Lower House on the Special Operations Bill.
Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, the Attorney General rejected that comparison, saying the country is confronting a crisis of criminal violence.
“To invoke that history here while our Black children are being slaughtered in the streets of their own communities is not careless rhetoric. It demands that we examine the assumptions beneath it. What is particularly shameful is that some who have enjoyed extraordinary privilege and accumulated extraordinary wealth would lecture us on oppression while the blood of young people of colour, many of whom will never see their 20th birthday, run through our streets. We, on this side, reject that.”
The AG said the Government’s focus is on dismantling the illegal drug trade and confronting gang activity, which he says has affected the country for years.
“That commitment, Mr President, was to rid this country of the scourge of criminal activity, to dismantle the illegal drug trade, to confront the gang culture that has flourished for a decade under their watch, and to restore our nation to peace and to prosperity.”
He also issued a warning to those involved in the trafficking of narcotics, telling them to end their activities and abandon any belief that they have protection or influence within the State.