HOSTILE supporters and activists of the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) have once again demonstrated their hostility, following the vandalizing of the People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C’s) campaign materials.The Opposition supporters have now taken their hostility and intimidatory tactics to another level, as manifested by their barring the PPP/C from conducting a public meeting in the area.

Speaking to a sizeable crowd last evening during one of the party’s public meetings at Time Square Street in Grove, East Bank Demerara, PPP/C stalwart Ms. Gail Teixeira, alluded to the intimidatory tactics and hostile behaviour of elements from the Opposition camp who are bent on disrupting campaign meetings being conducted by the incumbent PPP/C in the lead-up to the May 11 General and Regional Elections.

According to Teixeira, they were supposed to conduct yet another public meeting in Sophia in order to share the vision of the PPP/C Administration with the residents of that area, but on Tuesday when they started advertising the meeting, the vehicle bearing the PPP/C campaign posters, was attacked by some APNU+AFC supporters, who threw bricks and other missiles at the vehicle.
“The vehicles went in yesterday to announce and were pelted, after which they reported it to the police… they were accompanied yesterday morning by two police officers, but yet again the comrades were surrounded and intimidated by the APNU+AFC supporters in the presence of the police,” Teixeira told residents at Grove.
The comrades, she noted, “reported back to the PPP/C executive that the Opposition supporters were planning to behave badly tonight (Tuesday night).”
As such, “we decided for the purpose of safety we should not go in there because of the difficulty of getting in and out of the area,” she said.
Out of curiosity, she stated that they decided to check and see what they were planning, and what they discovered was that the APNU+AFC supporters had pooled their flags on the ground in the area where the PPP/C’s equipment was supposed to be set up.
Apart from that, Ms. Teixeira told the audience that the hostile supporters had lined the streets awaiting their arrival.
Teixeira added: “If we had gone there and removed the flags in order to proceed with the meeting, there would have been a confrontation, so we played it safe and avoided it because we do not want to go in that direction.”
Meanwhile, she also emphasised the fact that every time the PPP/C put up their flags, they ‘come down’, stating that “every night there is a flag war, we put up, they take down, and it’s a trend.”
Teixeira told the crowd that this has not only been going on in Georgetown, but it has also been occurring in Regions 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), 5 (Mahaica/Berbice), 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice).