Peaceful Protestors oppose the planned quarantine facility in the Coral Coast

A peaceful protest was led in the Coral Coast of Fiji this week in a bid to stop the Fijian Government from placing a quarantine facility in their district. 

There are few places in the world that can claim they've managed to keep their community Covid-Free since the start of the pandemic, the Coral Coast is one of them. The Coral Coast is the stretch of coastline between Sigatoka and Suva, on the island of Viti Levu, in Fiji. This community has managed to keep themselves safe from the widespread virus through reciprocal care, proactive safety measures and people-led safekeeping. The villages on the coast have made their own facemasks, set up sanitation stations and have worked around strict lockdown rules. All these precautions have kept them safe. This is why when they heard of the proposed quarantine facility in their area they were greatly worried and decided to protest. 

Community members gathered with signs and masks to tell the public of their concerns. But the peaceful village mobilisation turned sour when a few protesters were taken into custody Tuesday night by police officers. Although the authorities could not charge anyone as they were not able to find any breach of law. The villagers said their protest was on village property and complied to the current COVID19 restrictions, therefore did not breach any law to keep them in custody. 

The Coral Coast has been COVID19 free since the pandemic hit last year and its residents wish to keep it this way. The Fijian governement plan to use the Outrigger Resort and Maui Bay Hotel as COVID-19 quarantine facility. The protesters say that they were not consulted and are concerned that using their area as a quarantine location would lead to a possible community outbreak.

Community members have also used their social media platforms to raise awareness on their stance. They have created the hashtag #KeepBaraviCOVID19FREE and started an online petition.

A community outbreak in Fiji in the past few months has to lead to new cases being discovered of the virus each day. Despite prior to April only discovering 68 cases since the start of the pandemic. Yesterday one death and a record 116 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed. The Fiji Health Ministry reported that a 73-year-old patient at the country's main hospital in Suva is the fifth person to die from the virus. This brings an esitmated 1252 cases recorded during this outbreak that started in April 2021. 

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Photos provided by Samuela Kuridrani