Dear Editor,
Like others – we hope very many others – we were outraged to read in the Stabroek News about the atrocity inflicted on a family outside a nightclub on Sheriff Street. We are also appalled by the way other people behaved: those who stood by while a gang of monsters robbed and beat people and stripped and sexually assaulted a mother and her daughters; the driver of the taxi from which the family was dragged who made no attempt to summon the police or to help them; the taxi driver who refused to take the family to the hospital without money and took the earring of one of the women as payment; the proprietrix of the night club who did nothing to help the family and allowed the monsters back into the club to continue enjoying themselves and spending money which she was no doubt glad to collect.
These people cannot undo what they did but it is not too late for them to try to make partial amends. We urge all of them who witnessed any part of this terrible incident to go to the police so that these criminals can be apprehended and put before the court. They cannot be allowed to walk the streets. They must not be allowed to get away with it. We call on the police to diligently and urgently investigate this matter and bring the perpetrators before the court.
Men sexually assault women to humiliate them and show power over them. When the attackers and their victims are of different races, ethnicities, (or in some countries, religions or tribes), the intention of the attackers is also to humiliate and show power over the group to which the victims belong. We do not know if that was the situation in this case. If it was, then this already barbaric act would have to be even more strongly condemned and its victims even more strongly defended.
Yours faithfully,
Halima Khan, Nicola
Marcus, Wintress White
for Red Thread
