Emmanuel’s vehicle at the marketplace recently.
~ Emmanuel says he has not parked at location since ~
PHILIPSBURG--Philipsburg Marketplace President Ingrid Anthea Grell says Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Christophe Emmanuel constantly blocks the stall of a vendor at the marketplace with his vehicle, obstructing her from properly plying her trade, and when Grell raised the issue with him he laughed at her, called her the “marketplace police,” and said she should find “something to play with.”
Emmanuel has denied being derogatory to any vendor and said he has “not parked at the location since.”
Grell said Emmanuel parks and “blocks” the vendor’s stall “not once, not twice, but many times.” She said he parks at the location every time he is in Philipsburg and did so as recently as Monday and Tuesday this week. Grell said that as Emmanuel parks directly in front of the stall, he obstructs the vendor from properly conducting her trade. She said also that the location is not a place for vehicles to park.
Grell told The Daily Herald that Emmanuel went to the location with his truck “criticising and laughing at me [and – Ed.] calling me the market police.” She said she had called the police to report the parking violation and the female officer who answered the phone asked her whether she had a permit to operate at the location, to which she responded “yes.”
“She [the police] then told me she will send a patrol. They never came up to this day. So, after he [Emmanuel] came back to his truck and saw me standing there, he laughed and I told him I will let St. Maarten people talk for me in this situation that always happens and the police do nothing to help, like they are afraid of him because he is an MP.”
Grell said that when she publicised the matter on social media via Facebook and persons responded, Emmanuel went to the Marketplace “looking for trouble and cursing me out on the market.”
She added: “That is St. Maarten’s MP for us. That is how he cares about the people so much – to come and cuss me like a little boy who has no respect for no one.” She said Emmanuel has been parking at the location since the removal of the booths sometime back.
In an invited comment on the matter, Emmanuel said via his public relations officer (PRO) that he “refutes any blatant lie of him being derogatory to any vendor. Which vendors? He ‘conversates’ with them on a daily basis on his way to work and is friendly with all.
“The day he parked at the location he was running late for an appointment and gave the key to the building security to move the vehicle if it became an issue. Various MPs often pull up on the curb to go into the Parliament building quickly and return. He has not parked at the location since.
“This week was also a non-meeting week at Parliament. So, the claim that he ‘continues’ to park there is, again, a blatant lie. Even in non-meeting weeks when he goes to work he parks in common parking areas,” Emmanuel’s PRO said.
