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The Agricola protest was not a PNCR exercise and neither was it an APNU demonstration

Oct 23, 2012 Letters

 

DEAR EDITOR,
It is clear that Charrandass Persaud is totally out of sync with reality or has the poorest intelligence-gathering operation in Guyana; I would not like to think that he is just a malicious person, because judging from his letter SN October 20th 2012 “Mr. Granger should exert control over the Agricola protest” he and I are in agreement on many issues.
Where Mr. Persaud and I part ways, however, is on the grave and inaccurate assumption that his letter implies that the leader of the PNCR Brigadier David Granger and the PNCR or A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was responsible for the protest at Agricola on Thursday 11th October 2012.
First let me remind Mr. Charrandass Persaud about a few facts. The Leadership of the PNCR met in emergency session on Saturday 6th October 2012, after Dameon Belgrave was shot by the police outside the White Castle Fish Shop on Friday 5th October. The party planned a series of peaceful demonstrations, all with the theme of ending police violence and demanding the removal of Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Clement Rohee.
On Monday 8th October, the PNCR held a peaceful picketing exercise outside the offices of the Minster of Home Affairs at Eve Leary. The exercise lasted for about two hours, protestors were well organized and there was no incident. The following day, Tuesday 9th October, the PNCR held a peaceful picketing exercise outside the Office of the President, emphasizing the same demands for Clement Rohee to go and for reform within the Guyana Police Force.
Once again the demonstrators were well organized and there was no incident.
On Wednesday 10th October, the Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM), the youth arm of the PNCR, held a peaceful picketing exercise outside of the Office of the President; again it was well organized and there was no incident. The GYSM activity was the final planned public demonstration by the PNCR in relation to the Dameon Belgrave shooting.
On October 11th, demonstrators at Agricola reacting to the insensitive and irresponsible remarks made by Dr. Luncheon, burnt tires on the East Bank highway thus impeding the normal commute for several citizens. Brigadier David Granger as leader of the PNCR and Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), on October 12th, issued a press release condemning the incendiary, insensitive and irresponsible remarks made by Dr. Roger Luncheon Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
The press statement also expressed dismay over reports that commuters were prevented from travelling to their destinations. The partnership appealed for calm, and for respect for the rights of all citizens. The Granger-led APNU, after being informed of the lawlessness and banditry that occurred during the Agricola demonstrations, was forced to issue yet another press release. This time, APNU condemned all criminal acts and noted the PPP’s record of inserting known thugs and criminals into otherwise justifiable demonstrations to discredit those demonstrations. The Partnership (APNU) empathized with the victims that were preyed on by the criminal elements masquerading as protestors and labeled those actions reprehensible. There was also a call for calm and for the public to be alert to the divisive, devilish and destructive tactics of the desperate PPP Ramotar administration.
Now I would like to give Mr. Persaud the benefit of the doubt and presume that he was just uninformed about what took place on October 11th and who the true authors were. This was not a PNCR exercise and neither was it an APNU demonstration. The David Granger-led PNCR and APNU have no history of violent demonstration. So I would hope that Mr. Charrandass Persaud would withdraw his highly erroneous assumptive letter and be guided by the facts.
Mark Archer

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