Police last evening said that they are still searching for perpetrators of last Wednesday’s attack at PPP/C political meeting held at Victoria, East Coast Demerara and also denied suggestions that the five victims were harassed by ranks at the Cove and John Police Station.
According to a press release, relative to statements made by Clifton Harris at a press conference hosted by the PPP/C on Thursday, “excerpts of which were published in the print media today (yesterday), to the effect that he and four other PPP/C supporters were harassed by police ranks at the Cove and John Police Station on Wednesday November 16, 2011, the Guyana Police Force categorically denies that any police rank harassed any of the five persons as claimed.”
“Quite to the contrary, the police provided protective security for the five PPP/C supporters who had been allegedly attacked by supporters of another political party after a political meeting at Victoria Village, ECD, on Wednesday November 16, 2011,” the release said.
The release added that the police protected them by removing them from the scene and escorting them to the Police Station, where their reports were taken and they were requested to provide information that may lead to the arrest of their alleged assailants.
“This professional action of the police has been substantiated by Patricia Johnson, another of the persons appearing at the press conference, who is quoted as saying that she was rescued by a policewoman who placed her in a police vehicle”, the release said adding that based on the information provided, that very night police ranks went in search of the identified assailants and this continues to be done, though efforts have been unsuccessful so far.
Harris, a resident of Nabacalis who was among three persons brought to the press conference to recount their experience, told the media that they were all standing peacefully at the meeting and first heard former PNCR member Joseph Hamilton speak.
According to him, persons who brought children, including toddlers, began chanting “we want (David) Granger, we want Granger” while PPP/C supporters ignored them.
At the conclusion of the meeting, he and other supporters left to seek transportation back home. “While standing there a minibus came up and stop at the road front and a set of young people emerged from the bus straight in our direction, [and] start attacking us brutally. They had things like baseball bats, bricks were pelting, bottles were thrown at us, sticks were thrown at us…” he said in shaky voice.
As he was passing a woman holding a small child, Harris said he was “doused with a whole bottle of kerosene on my whole left side.” He said he became the main target of the attackers and he started to run because “another group was coming with fire and a placard with Mr Ramotar with fire.”
The man recalled that the crowd kept chasing him and he later heard an explosion, which caused the crowd to scatter. Later at the Cove and John Police Station, he said, persons turned up and continued “harassing us.”
