Lawrence condemns murders; calls on protestors to stop blocking roads

Chairman of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNCR) Volda Lawrence on Wednesday condemned the murder of 17-year-old Haresh Singh who was killed as protests escalate over the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry.

The political leader said it is “gruesome and barbaric,” the way the Henry cousins were killed and she is just as hurt and angered as others protesting the murder but she noted that it is not right to continue killing each other.

“I learn of the death of a 17-year-old, not so long ago and it is claimed that he is associated with the person in custody. I want to offer my sincere condolences to the family, we’re not a people who kill our children, we’re not a people who maim each other, we’re not barbarians, we’re Guyanese,” Lawrence said in a live video posted on Facebook.

She was at the time visiting Hopetown at West Coast Berbice, one of the villages where roads are blocked and persons attacked as they attempt to pass.

The former Health Minister had to pass Calcutta, Belladrum and other villages where protest actions are ongoing. She urged protestors to stop blocking the roads.

She said: “what I have seen along the way, as a leader, I consciously cannot condone.”

“We are hurting each other as a people, we are hurting each other as neighbours and friends and we are turning on each other as though we don’t know each other and as a Leader, we have to call a spade a spade.

“We’re asking for justice, we’re also asking for peace, pull away the things from in the middle of the road, we can do things differently, we can send our message differently,” the PNC/R Chairman added.

She issued a call for “every single member of the People’s National Congress/Reform, irrespective of your status,” to stop the carnage.

“We certainly can display our grief in a different manner,” the political leader urged.

“Stop, stop, this is hurting us…this will not solve our problems, our problems will get deeper and wider and we still will not solve it,” she begged.

Further, she called on President Irfaan Ali who leads the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to call on his supporters to end “the carnage” which is ongoing.

She alluded to protest action at Bath Settlement, WCB which is a predominantly PPP/C supported community.

“As our people pull back, so he must call on his people to pull back…We are six people living together and we have to continue living together and this has to stop,” Lawrence pleaded.

The PNC/R Chairman also called on religious leaders to stand up and assist in calling for peace and justice.

Protests started in several villages after the bodies of 16-year-old Isaiah and 18-year-old Joel Henry were discovered on Sunday last in Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice.

Seven persons remain in custody over the brutal murders including the grandfather and uncles of Haresh Singh.

Singh was beaten to death on Wednesday as he was heading to the backlands to transport water to another uncle. He was found in a rice field while his motorcycle was torched.

Lawrence said justice is needed for all three of the teens.