SAN JUAN (AP) — Protesters raised their fists on Tuesday dressed in T-shirts with a pair of chained black dolls and the phrases “Seh Yuh Sorry!” (“Say sorry!”) and “Apologize now!” (“Apologize now!”) in a protest before the arrival of Prince William of England and his wife, Catherine, in Jamaica.
The rally before the British High Commissioner in Kingston came a couple of days after dozens of the country's leaders published a letter demanding that Britain apologize and grant reparations to its former colony for slavery. In addition, they criticized the dukes of Cambridge's week-long tour of Central America and the Caribbean, which began on Saturday and coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaica's independence and the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
“Kings, queens, princes and princesses belong to fairy tales, not Jamaica!” , said the poster of a young girl at the protest.
The royal visit, which began in Belize and will include stops in Jamaica and the Bahamas, was organized at the queen's behest as some countries debate cutting ties with the monarchy, as Barbados did in November.
Mike Henry, a veteran Jamaican legislator, said in a telephone interview that although the matter has been discussed, he is concerned that the demand for apologies and reparations will come to naught if the island ceases to swear allegiance to the monarch.
Maziki Thame, a professor at the University of the West Indies, pointed out that Jamaicans have been asking for reparations for decades.
“This is not a new cause,” he said in a telephone interview as he prepared to attend the protest. “The question is whether it will fit... if the British are willing to face their history.”
The British Empire controlled Jamaica for more than 300 years and forced hundreds of thousands of African slaves to work on the island in brutal conditions.
The group protesting against the royal visit highlighted in its letter that the British murdered and raped thousands of slaves, and demanded an apology for 60 reasons, including “for refusing to recognize the historic trade in Africans as a crime against humanity” and for “pretending that the British led the abolitionist movement, when our ancestors worked, prayed and fought hard for this.”
William and Catherine are scheduled to spend two days in Jamaica, where they will meet with government representatives and visit Trench Town, the birthplace of rocksteady and reggae where Bob Marley grew up.