Revellers injured at Soca Monarch (+ Video)

IT WAS MEANT to be a night of partying but events at this year’s Soca Monarch show caused many patrons to head to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) for treatment from flying missiles.

Some needed stitches to the head and treatment for other injuries sustained.

An announcement through the microphone at the Victoria Park in the early morning of Sunday, July 3 revealed that no fewer than a dozen persons were at the hospital because of injuries from Baygon cans, bottles and other projectiles thrown by revellers.

“…any other thing pelt this morning the show done, no results nuttin.You get me? We’re just waiting for the results right now. The results reach? Okay let’s go,” an individual was heard saying over the speaker system, even while a few obstinate partiers ignored the threat and continued to sail the heavy objects skyward.

The ‘fêters’ who ended up in the hospital missed the announcement of the results as they sought medical treatment for their injuries.

One male who preferred to remain anonymous could be seen with bandages on his forehead and below one eye, as well as bruising on his nose.

A magnum bottle had broken on his face, causing him to bleed profusely and resulting in him receiving three stitches.

“We were just on the concrete standing and – he didn’t see where the bottle came and his head was down so when he raise up now it ketch him, then it broke…” his girlfriend explained.

Asked whether this was frightening, he said that is was, because, “I thought it was in my eye and I keep asking wey side it cut me?”

Neither could his girlfriend see if it had cut his eye.

“I couldn’t see properly because a lot of blood was in there,” she said.

They estimated that while at the hospital they observed about 20 persons seeking treatment for either stabs or injuries from missiles.

On the other side of the waiting room was Jay-Z Lewis who was waiting for his friend to receive stitches to his head.

“…Outta nowhere something just came and hit him in the head,” Lewis recalled of his friend’s incident, “…I believe it’s a bottle because he didn’t see what the object was, but it was heavy enough to buss his head.”

The revellers did not think much of the wound because in the darkness it seemed small. However after morning broke the friend looked at the cut again.

“Yow, that look serious” he recalled telling his friend.

Because of the location of the injury and the worry that it could get infected creating problems for the 20-year-old, they decided to visit the hospital.

Lewis has been patronising carnival events from a very young age but hadn’t witnessed that many injuries from an event.

When asked why persons choose to do this, he reasoned, “Ignorance.”

“…Because come on.You’re in the crowd, why would you pelt bottles and Bagon cans…” he questioned, “…what is the sense in doing it?”

He wondered how persons got bottles into the park if the police were conducting searches at the gate.

In a release issued later that day, the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force said that it “strongly condemns the irresponsible behaviour of some patrons at the Ragga Soca and Power Soca Monarch (Lit and Ready) shows.”

Apart from the injuries received by the throwing of projectiles, the release said that persons were also hurt by flames created by combining lighters with sprayed Baygon or aerosols taken into the Park.

They reminded event organizers, operators of bars, and all patrons attending shows during the carnival season that the regulation three “No Bottle Policy” was still in effect. This policy highlights, among other things that: “A person shall not sell beverages in glass bottles or glass containers, whether open or sealed; Consume any beverage in a glass bottle or glass container; or Possess or carry a glass bottle or glass container in the area.”

Failure to comply would result in a possible fine of up to $500.There was no mention of any arrests made.