By Aleesha Khan
AFTER
116 days, the disabled persons protest outside National Flour Mills
came
to an end yesterday as Prime Minister Patrick Manning promised
employment
for the two men who started the protest.
The
tent on Wrightson Road was dismantled at 5 p.m., marking the end of the
lengthy
protest.
President
of the Trinidad and Tobago branch of Disabled Persons
International,
George Daniel, said the Prime Minister's decision to provide
employment
to Devon Garroway and Antonio Diaz was proof that they had
"fought
a good fight".
Daniel
said that during a meeting yesterday Manning agreed to several
conditions
regarding education and transportation.
He
said Manning promised that all schools would be made accessible to
persons
with disabilities and old schools would be renovated to accommodate
them.
A
Disabilities Act will also be put into place to protect the rights of
disabled
persons, Daniel said.
Former
government ministers Dr Emanuel Hosein and Lincoln Myers, who were
part
of the team that met with the Prime Minister, said progress had
"definitely
been made" but the struggle would continue.
"We
intend to continue to advocate 'til we die because we will always be
disabled,"
Hosein said.
Daniel thanked the public, both "those who understood and those who did not.
"We
have no enemies here today. We leave with no enemies. We know that Flour
Mills
did not understand but we forgive them; we really forgive them. Some
day,
they will understand what this whole struggle was all about," Daniel
said.
"We
want to thank T&TEC also; we have no hard feelings," he said.
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