THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has forthrightly condemned the physical assault by Opposition supporters meted out on its candidate, Mr. Kwame Mc Coy, yesterday afternoon. Mc Coy, as part of his responsibilities for which all candidates are entitled, visited the polling station at the St. Sidewell Primary School at Hadfield Street and Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.

“Acting upon a deliberate and malicious rumour, hundreds of supporters of the Opposition coalition, swarmed the school thereby entrapping Mc Coy in the process. During that horrific and frightening period, Mc Coy was subjected to abuses and is currently hospitalised nursing serious bodily injuries. Had Rt. Brig. David Granger not dissuaded his supporters from pursuing their assault, Mc Coy’s injuries could have been much worse,” the PPP said in a statement following the incident.
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McCoy was forced to seek refuge in the St Sidwell’s Primary School polling station, in Georgetown, after his presence clearly incensed the primarily Opposition stronghold voting location, across the road from the 1763 Cuffy Monument at Square of the Revolution.
McCoy ventured into the St Sidwell’s Primary School yesterday afternoon, but his presence clearly angered those present.
Word of his being at the location quickly ignited a ballooning of the already agitated crowd.
The Information Liaison Officer to Head of State President Donald Ramotar, who is also fielded on the List of Candidates for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), was by this time forced to seek refuge in the polling station.
Ranks of the Guyana Police Force present, along with officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), were forced to lock down the building’s environs.
The angry crowd quickly grew hostile as they wanted him extricated from the premises.
A few hundred persons quickly numbered at least a couple thousand, men and women, hurling emphatic vitriol.
McCoy was observed frantically using his mobile phone in the upper flat of the building which was being utilised as a polling place, even as police ranks and GECOM Officials alike appeared to ponder their next move.
By this time, the polling station had been closed for as long as some could bear and some began demanding their opportunity to vote, as is their right.
The entire incident unfolded in the presence of Head of the Commonwealth Nation’s Observer Mission, Kate Wilkinson, and as the tension escalated by the second, it quickly gave way to a loud roar and new chants.
‘Our President, Our President…Granger, Granger,” replaced the vitriolic taunts directed McCoy’s way.
Opposition Leader, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, by this time had made his way down to the quickly escalating standoff, along with an entourage which included Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d), Joseph Harmon and a number of security personnel in tow.

Granger was quickly ushered to the gateway of the building, presented credentials and made his way up the stairs to where McCoy was barricaded behind police ranks and GECOM Officials.
The Opposition Leader immediately met with a senior police officer at the location who identified himself as Superintendent Parsram.
Granger proposed to negotiate safe passage for McCoy away from the now intimidating crowd, so that persons could be allowed to resume voting.
The Brigadier, in no uncertain terms, made it clear to the Superintendent Parsram that persons were being prevented from exercising their franchise “and we have arrived at a very bad situation here.”
It was pointed out that while McCoy may very well have a right to be present at the polling station, it was clear to all that his continued presence only exacerbated an already charged atmosphere.
He told the police superintendent Mc Coy would have to leave the building at some point in time, and “the earlier he leaves the better.”
Granger proposed to Superintendent Parsram, as the officer in charge at the scene, “I am going to speak to the crowd, and I am going to ask you to escort him away.”
The presidential candidate for the political Opposition at yesterday’s hotly contested polls told the police officer that McCoy’s “presence in this building is preventing the completion of the voting process.”
Superintendent Parsram agreed with the proposal before the Opposition Leader made his way back down to his supporters.
He quickly mounted the cab of a parked police pick-up truck to report to the animated crowd of supporters.
Within minutes, Granger, along with Harmon, managed to settle the crowd enough to speak without the aid of a loud hailer.
He told his supporters, many of whom were still waiting to cast their ballots, of the deal he brokered with the police and urged winning only through the ballot.
Reluctant at first, the crowd eventually cleared a path to the waiting police vehicle and McCoy was escorted by police ranks safely into the back seat.
The subdued crowd was however short-lived, as by the time McCoy was safely behind the protection of the police vehicle’s cab, there was a lunge towards the now swarmed proverbial “escape pod.”
The intensity of the crowd almost toppled Granger, before the driver of the police vehicle managed to remove the vehicle, giving the Opposition Leader a chance to disembark, before whisking McCoy away.

Meanwhile, the PPP in its statement pointed out that it had “warned about the Opposition peddling reckless rumours which not only have the potential for serious consequences on our people, but can put in the electoral process in jeopardy thereby derailing our hard fought democracy.”

“Our Party believes that the spreading of rumours is a manifestation of the Opposition’s attempts to fabricate excuses if they were to lose these elections,” the PPP stated.

“Having built false hope in the minds of their supporters, they have, through these rumours, set the stage for the non-acceptance of the results which can precipitate instability within the country,” the PPP said, adding that there is overwhelming evidence of such during past elections and have only served to set our country backwards.

The PPP calls on the leadership of the Opposition coalition to demonstrate a profound sense of responsibility and to reign in its supporters who are bent on creating havoc. It noted that, only recently, leaders within the Opposition declared that the coalition would be unable to restrain its supporters during these elections.

In addition, the PPP is calling on both the international and local observers to be cognisant of these incidents and for all to stay resolute to safeguard Guyana’s democracy.