I know the other post has been closed down....but personaly I am in agreement with the People of St. Martin. Barbara and Bob have been villainized here for their feelings on what happened Wednesday. THEY live there.....they are St. Martin.....and who are we, some that may spend a couple of days or weeks there, to tell them they are wrong??? We are visitors to THEIR island...the place they love and call home.

The protest yesterday sure garnered a lot of attention...and rightfully so. Who in their right minds would run a protest when it didn't get the most bang for the buck. So, some cruisers and tourists may have been inconvenienced...so what!!! Would i have liked it...probably not, but as one poster said, we would get over it.

I can't say I totally know what the protest was about...but obviously it was something that the RESIDENTS felt would impact THEIR home in a very negative way...government taking properties.....taking businesses....etc. These people had and demonstrated THEIR right to a demonstration...and obviously it worked.

In my opinion, if people (tourists) don't or didn't like what happened, then it would be their choice to return or not to return. BUsiness people knew in advance of this protest, and obvious went along with it. It is their livelihood. A day's worth of inconveniece, and loss of a day's income to some obviously were less than a permanent thing. Sometimes a more ''drastic'' approach is needed to get recognized. What i understand, the other approaches didn't work. Thankfully, the protests were held peacefully, and I didn't read any reports of any violence throughout the island during the ''takeover''.

Again, I want to stress that we are just visitors to the island, and do NOT have a say in their government, or how they choose to live their lives. Yes, tourism is the number one industry...but I truly doubt that ships will stop bringing passengers, most timeshare owners will bail out because of this, and people that may be planning to come for the first time cancel their plans on coming. Come on folks...it was just a few hours...not days, months or years... I do know that this long time visitor will NOT be deterred on visiting my ''second home'' but now may even appreciate it a bit more, knowing that something good came out of yesterday for the residents that do not have any other place to go. We sure wouldn't like to be told how to do things from any other country....I think the people of St. Martin, both sides, should NOT be told how WE think they should live. it's called R E S P E C T....a thing that many of the posters here fail to recognize and appreciate.

I am pretty sure that I am not alone with these feelings.
My two cents.