Guyanese unite in grief

Apr 28, 2025 News

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…as protests, vigils spread across country

By Shania Williams and Francwa Fortune

Kaieteur news- Guyanese across the country have been holding peaceful protests and vigil in solidarity with the family and relatives of 11-year-old Adrianna Younge who was found dead in the swimming pool of the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen last week Thursday.

On Sunday there were protests on the East Coast Demerara at Melanie and Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara. There were vigils in Lethem, Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, Mahaicony, Essequibo and Bartica.

On the East Coast the demonstrators gathered on the Melanie Public Road before marching to Buxton. Many of them, particularly mothers, said Adrianna’s death has struck a painful chord, as they called out the authorities for what they described as mishandling the situation from the outset. On April 23, Adrianna vanished from around the hotel’s swimming pool after she was reportedly sent by her grandmother to seek a ‘pool-pass’. It was the last time she was seen by her loved ones alive. After observing that she did not return, her grandmother raised an alarm in an effort to find the missing child, but this proved futile. That night her family gathered in front of the hotel, even after the Guyana Police Force attempted to mislead them by claiming that she was not at the hotel and that she was abducted.

The following morning there was a protest in front of the hotel and that morning Adrianna’s body was found in the pool. Subsequently the hotel was set ablaze as well as the home of the owner of that hotel.  Since then, Commander Khalid Mandall of Region Three was sent on administrative leave and three other ranks have been placed under close arrest.

Speaking during yesterday’s protest, one woman said, “For me, I feeling hurt about the whole situation, real hurt because it could have been my child, could have been my nieces, you know. I feel hurt by the situation and we need justice for her.” Another woman, passionately stated that the protest was not politically-motivated but born out of pure grief and the need for accountability. “We are out here because of the brutal killing of Adrianna Younge. Too often our children are being murdered and there is no way the case shows who is guilty… and so we think it is time. This is not any political front. We are requesting justice for our children. According to the president, it’s political. No, it’s not political, we go with our motto: One People, One Nation, One Destiny.”

As a mother she explained, “I felt the hurt for all those parents who have lost their children and their cases are not going the way it’s supposed to be done. We are out here showing solidarity towards those parents and we will not stop until we get justice.”

Another protester shared the deep fear and helplessness parents now feel. “Well, we have to protest to show how serious we are because this have been going on for a while. As parents I feel so hurt about the situation because I have a young girl child and I’m very hurting, and I need the system to change. They need to look into these things more seriously because young people going down every day one by one. So I would like to tell all parents to come out and let us as parents share our views and talk about this situation because it is very serious and we don’t want it to continue,” she told this publication.

A fourth woman, fighting back tears, criticized the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for what she described as their failure to treat Adrianna’s disappearance with urgency. The woman said, “I’m out here because it hurts me. I’m a mother of two and this situation, it hurt me to the core. I have nieces that carry that same age with that child, and you know it hurts so much that I don’t even have words to explain.”

She added, “But what I know and I see is that the police force failed that child’s parents and even failed Guyana, because they could have done something. That child could have been alive and we would not have been out here… that child could have been alive and happy with her parents. But because of their selfishness, that is what caused us to be out here. I think GPF can do better because they have good police and bad police, and I want this government to shuffle the police force. I want justice for this child. I want justice for this child and this should never occur again.”

She stressed that children should be able to walk the streets safely, and parents should be at ease knowing that their kids are protected. “It is sad. I wish her parents all the best. It hurt me, I haven’t eaten properly in three days, my hair ain’t even comb since this happen,” she added. Throughout the march, protesters chanted, “What do we want? Justice!” and “No justice, no peace!” making their demands heard as they moved through the communities.

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