…Opposition parties declare support for “scrapes” at site of Adrianna’s drowning
…“many of us were once called scrapes” – joint Opposition group
On Wednesday, a wide group of Opposition leaders chose to host a Press Conference in front of the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen East Bank Essequibo, where 11-year old Adrianna Younge had drowned, as verified by three international pathologists brought in by the government at the request of her parents.
At the press conference, several speakers developed the false equivalence they had created earlier between “scrapes” who had created widespread looting, arson and general mayhem during protests following Adrianna’s death and “white collar criminals”.
WPA Leader David Hinds
They also issued a statement presented by businessman Terrence Campbell that was signed by: Guyanese Patriots; Alliance For Change (AFC); Assembly for Liberty & Prosperity (ALP); Vigilant For a New Guyana (V-PAC); The People’s Movement (TPM); Concerned Parliamentarians (PNC); Simona Broomes, Ubraj Narine, Maya Obradzina-Ryan, and “other civic leaders”.
Also present were leader of the AFC Nigel Hughes who has touted Terrence Campbell as his proposed leader of a “joint opposition” to face the PPP at the elections later this year rather than Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, who blanked the press conference.
In the statement the Opposition leaders identified with the “scrapes” and asserted they were once also “scrapes”. They claimed that that what occurred on Monday night was as a result of a failed system that locks wealth from certain types of people – presumably scrapes. On Monday night, criminal elements, claiming to be protesting for the death of Younge, descended on Georgetown and several parts of the country looting, robbing persons, setting fires and causing public terror.
The AFC has since been criticized for the location of the press conference.
As a matter of fact, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday called out the AFC for their insensitive act of hosting the press conference at the location where the child died. He said it was not only insensitive, but rather disgusting.
Also at the press conference were MPs Catherine Hughes and David Patterson from the AFC, several PNC parliamentarians such as former minister Simona Broomes and Annette Ferguson, and Dawn Hastings-Williams.
WPA’s further extremist
pronouncements
Earlier in the week, Leader of the Working Peoples Alliance (WPA), David Hinds, had even more vigorously and definitively defended those persons who caused terror on Monday around Georgetown and other parts of the country, destroying properties and looting businesses.
“Y’all call them scrapes, I stand with them. Y’all call them thugs, I stand with them. And I don’t care, I will stand with them to the end and whatever little people like myself can do to give them agency so that they can take action in their own name. They don’t need no politician there,” Hinds declared during a live programme earlier this week talking about Monday’s unrest across the country.
What started off as a peaceful protest for justice outside the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for 11-year-old Adriana Younge, quickly escalated Monday night into terror with persons setting fiery road blocks, beating and robbing civilians, damaging private and public properties, and looting several businesses.
The Guyana Police Force has embarked on a campaigned to arrest and charged all those persons who are caught in photos or videos damaging properties and looting. Already, over 40 persons have been placed before the courts for Inciting Terror and/or Larceny.
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton had condemned the criminal behaviour during the protests and accused the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government of using its supporters to infiltrate the protest and commit the crimes – something which PPP General Secretary Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has rejected.
In fact, Jagdeo, who also serves as Vice President, said on Wednesday that there is intelligence to show that persons were deliberately mobilised to cause terror among Guyanese, which aligns with actions in the Opposition’s playbook.
Meanwhile, during a subsequent press statement on Thursday, Hinds, whose party is a member of the People’s National Congress-led A Partnership for National Unity (PNC/APNU) opposition, lashed out at “…the thesis of the government and some sections of the political opposition that the events of that night were the work of thugs, scrape-heads, looters, and robbers.”
“WPA does not promote destruction of public and private property as normal forms of protest… [But] WPA asks: since when blocking roads in public protest is a socio-political sin? …WPA also rejects attempts by the government and sections of the opposition to link the looting and robberies which took place to the general protests. Those acts are regrettable, but it is well known that legitimate protestors have no control over such activities,” Hinds posited.
Only back in February, Hinds had come under widespread public criticisms for hurling a series of insults towards Afro-Guyanese.
During his “Politics 101” programme, Hinds called Afro-Guyanese who are exercising their democratic right to support a political party of their choice, “lick bottoms,” “house slaves,” and “sell outs”, among other remarks.
