-calls on PNC supporters to cease lawlessness
-urges President Ali to do the same with PPP supporters
What started off as a protest for justice had resulted in crowds of protestors engaged in violence, leading to more killings, destruction of property, and more, and has propelled Chairperson of the Peoples National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), Volda Lawrence, to make a passionate plea for all citizens, including her Party members and supporters, to end such lawlessness.
The protest action began in West Coast Berbice (WCB), after the mutilated bodies of teen cousins, 19-year-old Joel Henry and 16-year-old Isaiah Henry were discovered in a coconut farm on Sunday.
The protest actions quickly spread and erupted in other villages but have resulted in roads being blocked, reports of persons being attacked and robbed and the destruction of private properties.
As a result of the ongoing violence and tensions, two more persons tragically lost their lives amidst the protests.
Taking to social media yesterday (Wednesday), the PNC/R Chairperson stated that the levels of actions taken by protestors during the past few days cannot be condoned.
“As a leader, we have to call a ‘spade a spade’, and as I speak, I am calling on President Irfaan Ali to call on his people too. I am calling on my people to end this carnage, to end the way in which they are grieving and I am asking him to do likewise. As our people pull back, so he must call on his people too to pull back,” Lawrence stated.
In addition to the two Henry boys, another teenager, 17-year-old Haresh Singh was murdered. Singh was related to some of the suspects in custody for the brutal murders of the cousins was also killed.
Lawrence condemned the senseless killings, as she reiterated that such actions were not and are not helpful to any society.
“We are not a people who kill our children, we are not a people who maim each other, we are not barbarians. We are Guyanese, we are six people living together and we have to continue living together, and this has to stop…I am calling on every single member of the PNC/R irrespective of your status, I am saying that we cannot continue, this carnage must stop.”
Lawrence added that “we are asking for justice, but we are also asking for peace…pull away the things from the middle of the road, we can do things differently, we can send our messages differently. It doesn’t mean that we are weak.”
