Trinidad and Tobago ends state of emergency amid pushback over mass arrests

The country’s prime minister told parliament on Wednesday that the government would not extend the state of emergency. One was issued in 2024 and another in 2025, with extensions lengthening both.

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• Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights.

Venezuela critica Trinidad e Tobago em disputa por derramamento de petróleo.

Trinidad e Tobago encerra estado de emergência em meio a protestos contra prisões em massa | Notícias do Governo | Al Jazeera Pular links Pular para Conteúdo Reproduzir ao vivo Inscrever-se Mostrar menu de navegação Menu de navegação.

Instead, the government would seek a “permanent legal framework”.

The government had faced criticism for a campaign of mass arrests that suspended key civil liberties in what it said was in the name of cracking down on crime and those the government deemed threats to security.

Um empresário proeminente e sua esposa foram entre os detidos por suposto envolvimento em um plano para assassinar o primeiro‑ministro, mas nunca foram acusados e posteriormente libertados.

The measures were last extended in June, with the prime minister stating that more than 5,800 people have been arrested since a March extension. About 2,250 of those have yet to be charged, and it remains to be seen whether they will be released now that the state of emergency has ended.

Lawyer Criston Williams told The Associated Press news agency that he expects some of those detained without charge to bring lawsuits against the government and called for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate possible abuses by the government.

Police reported a record 624 killings in the country of about 1. 4 million people in 2024, a figure that police say dropped to 369 in 2025. Police state that 255 killings have been recorded this year, compared with 268 over the same period in 2025.

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