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Rupert Bishop
Today is the 51st Anniversary of Bloody Monday lest we forget.
51 years ago, today, a peaceful gathering of demonstrators—workers, farmers, businesspeople, women, youth and students—was viciously attacked outside Otway House on the Carenage. Rupert Bishop, the father of Maurice Bishop, was gunned down in cold blood while protecting women and high school girls. After a peaceful demonstration in St George’s, the crowd had gathered outside Otway House to listen to speeches before heading back to their usual business. Everything changed on that day.
The precursor and main spark to Bloody Monday, was Bloody Sunday, November 18, 1973. On Bloody Sunday, 6 NJM leaders went to Grenville to meet with some businessmen at the Deluxe Cinema to strategize on next steps to fight Gairy. Upon arrival, they were confronted by over 100 armed police, regular and secret, including Mongoose Gang members, led by Inspector Innocent Belmar, who barked the order to “Get them!”. These 6 NJM leaders were attacked, and forced to duck bullets, stones and bottles. Eventually, they were cornered and mercilessly beaten with axe handles and bottles wrapped in newspapers. Whiteman lost some teeth; Bishop’s jaw was broken, his left eye badly damaged and arms fractured; Strachan’s eyes were swollen. Both Strachan and Whiteman loss consciousness. While all 6 sustained serious injuries, Bishop, Strachan and Whiteman experienced the worst.
The NJM 6 were then thrown into a single cramped cell in the Grenville Police Station, where their heads and Bishop’s beard were shaven with broken glass. Bishop’s father and Radix’s parents attempted to visit them with a doctor and priest. Belmar bellowed: “No Doctor, lawyer, Bishop or priest will be allowed to see them. And No Bail! These are orders from above….”
The Bloody Sunday atrocities led to the formation of the Committee of 22, which then demanded a “Commission of Inquiry” to investigate the “General Breakdown of Law and Order”. Gairy agreed to the demands but reneged and did nothing. Finally, the Committee then called for an Island wide general strike and lockdown to begin on New Year’s Day, 1974.
The general strike led to daily peaceful demonstrations and weekend rallies for 3 weeks. “G.O. GO! GAIRY MUST GO!” was a main slogan chanted by the demonstrators. On the Sunday night of January 20, Gairy gave a national address, and issued a call for the “roughest and toughest of roughnecks” to come to his residence at Mt Royal the next morning. About 500 of his roughnecks showed up next morning, where Gairy agitated and whipped them into a frenzy and charged them to violently attacked the demonstrators and all business places supporting the general strike.
Gairy dispatched his supporters in a counter demonstration. As they approached the peaceful crowd outside Otway House, their faces distorted by hate, they were singing “JEWEL behave yourself; otherwise, they go try us for murder.” They then attacked the peaceful demonstrators with guns and stones, seized a truckload of sweet drinks and pelted the sodas at the demonstrators. Shortly thereafter, a policeman fired a rifle inside Otway House killing Rupert Bishop on the spot. Bishop Sr. was holding back a shut door to protect a group of schoolgirls and women when he was shot. No one was ever held accountable for Rupert Bishop’s murder.
Bernard Bourne is a community activist, educator and former Grenadian Diplomat to the USSR and other European Countries during the People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada
. Bourne was a former Chairperson of the Grenada National Youth Organization and a national youth leader during the Grenada Revolution (1979-1983)