SAMOA: Ten thousand protest over traffic change
Updated
An estimated 10-thousand people have marched through Samoa's capital, Apia, to the parliament building to deliver a petition demanding the overturning of a decision to change the country's traffic flow. More than 32-thousand signatures have so far been collected and the petition is expected to be debated in parliament tomorrow. The chairman of the protest organising committee, Toleafoa Toailoa, says the peaceful protest was a win for democracy in Samoa.
Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Toleafoa Toailoa, protest organiser
TOAILOA: I'm optimistic the government will listen to the voice of the people, the voice of the grassroots people being put direct to our lawmakers. And I'm sure they should be prepared to listen to the very people that put them there.
HILL: But just a few days ago the Prime Minister said the 'march will be good for the health of the protestors'. Do you think he's seriously listening to you?
TOAILOA: Well, I know he was downplaying the importance of this march, and was mocking us beforehand, but as of today he'll be very unwise to continue mocking the people of this country.
HILL: Do you think he has a point though? He has outlined the reasons why the government has pushed through this law and it was my understanding that most of the people that took part in the march were business people, professional people, did this people's committee represent the people who might benefit from the introduciton of cheaper cars?
TOAILOA: I don't think that observation is correct, that the majority of people that marched is business people. There was a whole cross-section of community that was well represented in this march and there is absolutely no good reason whatsoever that the Prime Minister has given us to satisfy us that this change is really necessary. Bear in mind that there was absolutely no consultation whatsoever concerning such a major issue. I mean right now we have 17,000, close to 18,000 LHD vehicles on our roads, and only about a thousand RHD on our roads, now imagine the chaos - 17,000 vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road. Where on earth do you have such a situation? Today I think it's a demonstration of the fact that people are starting to realise that they have rights and for me what happened today is really a win for democracy."
