The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) is concerned about what it sees as a pattern of unprovoked police violence against ordinary citizens since the PPP/C took office in August.
The WPA, which was a member of the former governing APNU+AFC, made this contention when it addressed the matter of the Henry family and their recent confrontation with ranks attached to the Sparendam Police Station.
In a release yesterday, the WPA expressed its “outrage” at what it described as the “unwarranted physical attack” on the two members of the Henry clan, Colwyn Henry and his mother Gail Johnson.
The party said that it did not contest the unlawfulness of a citizen driving a vehicle without the required documents but considered the violence meted out to Henry and Johnson as an unwarranted reaction to a non-violent offence.
It reminded that the family had suffered the loss of two family members in the worst possible circumstances and sadly, are “having to again contend with the ugliness of extreme violence.”
It was noted that the Commissioner of Police in this instance upbraided the family’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, for allegedly “misrepresenting” the events at the station. However the release stated that the attorney’s account was supported by a video recording circulating on social media.
The WPA asserted thusly, “Freedom from arbitrary State violence is a sacred human right of every human being within a country’s borders. In this regard the police must be reminded that its primary function is service and protection.” It added “While we do not wish to paint all ranks in the police force with a broad brush, the charge of institutional violence, particularly against selected groups in the society, must be confronted by the leadership of the force and the government.
“We have had cause over the last four months to call attention to the new government’s propensity to tilt the coercive forces toward a practice of order over freedom. Such a policy is unacceptable in a free Guyana”, the party said.
What the WPA says it wants, is for the government to return the country to a place of non-violence where citizens do not have to live in fear of “arbitrary” police aggression. It proffered that the administration cannot call on citizens to act non-violently while “it creates the conditions for and enables police violence.”
The Party wants all Guyanese to “raise their voices in righteous indignation” against this latest instance of police over-reach and charged that to remain silent or to excuse the behaviour of the police ranks as routine is inexcusable.
“We also note that sections of the media are more preoccupied with the ‘crime’ of not being in possession of a drivers’ licence than with the police violence that ensued. How long will we continue this habit of justifying the brutalization of the poor and powerless in our midst? the release asked.
