…protests
Your Eyewitness is quite distraught – as are all Guyanese – at the snuffing out of the life of that innocent child Adrianna. Yes…she can now be called by that single name, and Guyanese everywhere would know who it is. Not only was there a murder most foul, but there was the effrontery of the police, doing their darnedest to throw everyone off the scent!! hiding that the poor child had been killed right there in the hotel, and her body secreted in one of its rooms, they prevented a thorough search of ALL the rooms, and then released a statement accusing a random citizen of kidnapping the child and spiriting her away to the West Bank!!
But today your Eyewitness wants to talk about the protests over Adrianna’s murder – starting right at the hotel on the day of her “disappearance”. Because the grandma, who’d taken the child for a swim at the hotel’s pool, knew that her grandchild wouldn’t have left the hotel’s premises in her swimming clothes, and couldn’t have disappeared into some Black Hole, she insisted the child could be found by searching for her. A logical deduction. The parents and other relatives who quickly arrived – since they lived nearby – merely began demanding answers, and weren’t “protesting”.
The protests began when the police kept on throwing red herrings to divert attention from the crime scene, and intensified their stonewalling even though a minister had joined in the requests for a thorough search!! As such, all Guyana sympathized at the protest – which then intensified when the child’s lifeless and clearly abused body suddenly appeared in the pool – which had been under scrutiny for two days!
The President, Leader of the Opposition, and several other Government and Opposition leaders have offered condolences to the bereaved family.
Now, the fire set to the hotel could’ve been set by hotel staff or owners, since it’s plausible they’d want to hide evidence of Adrianna’s murder. But when a neighbouring house – and the hotel owner’s house, located some distance away – were torched, your Eyewitness started wondering where the line would be drawn between protests and anarchy.
The looting of the hotel crossed that line and, sadly, turned the reaction of righteous indignation at Adrianna’s death and the police cover-up into a cliched spectacle of senseless ghetto-style rioting and looting.
Guyanese have a constitutional right of assembly, and to express their opinions through protests, but this cannot possibly include looting!! This is sheer lawlessness.
The Friday protests in front of the Leonora Police Station were likewise initially lawful – until the protestors didn’t just occupy the road and block traffic, but actually started COOKING a huge KARAHI of shine-rice!!
Further burning roads and forcing tired commuters to meander into village streets violated those commuters’ rights!!
…protest style?
Your Eyewitness is intrigued by the above-mentioned cooking of the shine-rice by the protestors on the public road in front of the Leonora Police Station!! This couldn’t be spontaneous, could it?? From where would they have gotten the karahi?? It wasn’t one you could carry around in your knapsack; it was the size of one of those in which we see Pressie periodically stirring curries or cook-up rice at various informal occasions!! Then the ingredients. The rice and spices could’ve been brought along, but coconut milk?? Naah!! This was all planned!!
So, the question is, “By whom??”
The Tuschen Hotel protests as described above were definitely spontaneous – and involved no cooking. In Guyana, unfortunately, the Opposition regrettably grabs every opportunity to exploit every situation for political gain. We saw this recently in Linden, and now in relation to Adrianna’s murder. In relation to the Linden incident, some of their big wigs picketed the Office of the President in Georgetown, calling for an Inquiry, which the President had already agreed to. They didn’t gain traction in the Leonora protests, but they’ll be back!!
…limits
The police allowed the shine-rice to be cooked and eaten at the inconvenience of commuters, but balked when a second pot of curry was being whipped up. This was blatant eye-pass, so they dispersed the protestors with tear gas!
