PEOPLE’S National Congress Reform (PNCR) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Executive George Norton has parried questions on the APNU+AFC Alliance investigating reports of its supporters assaulting their PPP/C counterparts.It was reported that acid and missiles were hurled at PPP/C supporters who were heading home from the massive rally held at Albion, Berbice on Sunday.

When asked about the incident, Norton at the time told the Guyana Chronicle that he was unaware of it, and furthermore he did not read the story, which was on the front page of the Monday edition of this newspaper.
The PNCR/APNU Executive, however, admitted seeing some persons at a few APNU+AFC public meetings who looked drunk, but he said they were not destructive.

“I’ve been one of the APNU campaigners that can say that I’ve touched all the regions and I’ve been to the remotest of the villages. Fortunately, apart from some persons who might have been intoxicated, I have not seen anybody disrupting the PPP meeting,” he said.
Intense competition
The contest between the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC Alliance to solicit the attention of the electorate to vote for them on May 11 has been intense, and aside from public billboards, the parties have been jostling for attention on the lantern poles.
Throughout the country, the poles are decorated with PPP/C and APNU+AFC Alliance flags and posters. In some cases where PPP/C flags were placed at the middle of the polls, a good distance away from hand reach, APNU+AFC supporters moved in on trucks and with ladders, placing the APNU flag above the PPP/C’s.
In the struggle, the small AFC, which at last minute wedded APNU, in a bid to help the coalition be victorious at the polls, seems to be non-existent in the lamp pole advertising.
Of late, the Alliance has been mounting only APNU flags, but AFC leaders Mosses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan have been vociferously pledging their support to Alliance Leader David Granger.
Frenemy relationship
From a glance at the lamp poles in the City, it appears that APNU and the AFC are in a ‘frenemy’ or ‘hold-me-loose-me’ kind of relationship.
But the APNU+AFC Alliance has been holding out that the relationship is good, and according to Norton, the claims of opposition supporters disrupting PPP/C meetings appear to be a little far-fetched.
“I don’t think anybody would be intimidated by the ruling party or the opposition, so it’s a waste of time to disrupt a meeting, but I have not witnessed any,” he said.
Dr Norton also told this publication that the Alliance has already warned its supporters about being mischievous.
“The word has been and will always be to the citizens of Guyana, especially around this time, is to ‘Do not be provoked or be tempted to do anything that is not law-abiding’,” he said.
The ruling party has also complained about destruction of its promotional materials by opposition elements.
On Monday evening, elements aligned with the political Opposition were seen on the West Coast of Demerara, between Cornelia Ida and Blankenburg, removing PPP/C flags on lamp poles.
At approximately 22:30 hours, the PPP/C flags were being replaced with those of the APNU+AFC Alliance.
Notably, the first set of flags representing the main Opposition only carried the APNU trademark. The new ones mounted last night had the ‘AFC’ lettering thatched to the end of the APNU flags.
When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle, Housing and Water Minister and PPP/C Region 3 representative Irfaan Ali disclosed that two reports of the illegal act have been made at the Den Amstel Police Station.