"Enough is enough!" Jamaicans protest visit by Prince William and Duchess Kate

Kingston, Jamaica - A Jamaican human rights advocate has said Prince William and Kate are directly benefiting from her great-great-grandparents' "blood, tears, and sweat" and called for an apology.

Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during a visit to Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica.
Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during a visit to Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica.  © IMAGO / i Images

Opal Adisa helped to organize activists outside the British High Commission building in Kingston during the visit by the couple to call for the British monarchy to pay reparations for slavery and apologize for human rights abuses.

The Advocates Network coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors and musicians wrote an open letter detailing 60 reasons why the monarchy should compensate Jamaica, to mark the country's 60th anniversary of independence.

Demonstrators were holding signs reading "Princesses and Princes belong in fairy tales... not in Jamaica" and "apologize," as well as holding copies of the open letter.

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Adisa, a retired professor in her 60s, is a gender specialist and human rights advocate who works with the coalition, and was keen to call the gathering a meeting of an advocacy network rather than a protest.

In line with protocol and coronavirus restrictions, Adisa said she requested space for 60 people, but the Advocates Network said more than 300 arrived in the first two hours.

She said: "Kate and William are beneficiaries, so they are, in fact, complicit because they are positioned to benefit specifically from our ancestors, and we're not benefitting from our ancestors. The luxury and the lifestyle that they have had and that they continue to have, traipsing all over the world for free with no expense, that is a result of my great-great-grandmother and grandfather, their blood and tears and sweat."

She joined calls for an apology, and said the monarchy should provide "economic social reparation," such as "building us proper hospitals, providing and making sure that our children are educated through college level, and making sure land is equally distributed."

Opposition to royal tour

Kate and William are currently on a tour of the Caribbean.
Kate and William are currently on a tour of the Caribbean.  © IMAGO / i Images

Adisa said an apology is the "first step towards healing and reconciliation."

She added: "You know, we don't have anything personally against Kate and Prince William, and even the Queen, for that matter, but we're simply saying you've done wrong, and it is way past time that you admit that you've done wrong and when you do, redressing it. The fact that our government is spending money to help provide security and finance for the duke and duchess, who are wealthy, is outrageous, it's criminal. Because the Caribbean is fed up, the same thing happened in Belize. We're just saying enough is enough, we've been quiet, we have been nice. Enough is enough, let's deal with this racism and this discrimination."

The protest began ahead of the royal couple's arrival in Jamaica on Tuesday, where they will stay until Thursday, when they depart for the Bahamas.

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Earlier in the tour there was opposition from villagers in Belize, who cited a range of issues including objections to the Cambridges' helicopter landing site, which forced a trip to a farm on Sunday to be scrapped.

It was replaced with a visit to a chocolate producer before the couple travelled to the cultural center of the Garifuna community in Hopkins.

Cover photo: IMAGO / i Images

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