…“cannot fight crime with crime” – Benn tells protesters during Berbice visit
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn speaking with protesters on Tuesday
A high-level Government team on Tuesday afternoon visited the communities in Berbice where protests over the gruesome murders of two teenagers have escalated into lawlessness resulting in some persons being beaten and robbed.
The team included Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud.
In urging residents to conduct themselves lawfully, Benn asserted; “We cannot fight crime with crime.”
He said the Government has an obligation to ensure that the matter regarding the murders is resolved “without fear or favour, but we cannot continue a situation which would have continued law breaking and the piling on of lawlessness on crime”.
Benn appealed to residents to work to ensure that law and order is maintained “so development and peace between the communities could continue to exist”.
“So I am appealing to you all, as adults, as people who know better…that we do the things which will restore peace in the community and a resolution of the problem which occurred; and that we have an analysis of it so that there is no re-occurrence.”
Prime Minister Mark Phillips and Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud speaking with protesters
Meanwhile, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Mohabir Anil Nandlall has since said that Government is prepared to engage residents of West Coast Berbice to bring a resolution to the riotous activities ongoing in various communities.
The Department of Public Information quoted the Minister as saying President Irfaan Ali has been speaking to the families of the victims on a regular basis.
The Attorney General made it clear that the Government is prepared to go speak with the protesters directly in an effort to bring calm to the escalating situation.
“The Government is prepared to go there; we are not going to be a Government who will sit in Georgetown and allow our country to descend. So tomorrow, unless this thing stops, you will have a greater presence of the Government there and we will have to engage the people, personally, I am prepared to do that,” the Attorney General is quoted as saying.
Nandlall is also calling on persons to desist from unlawful activities. He said that the focus of the law enforcement agencies at this point is clearing the roadways and trying to bring calm to the situation.
“There will come a time where if this kind of behaviour continues then the full force of the law will have to be applied because that is the State’s responsibility,” the AG warned.
