-to attend court today

GEORGETOWN Mayor, Ubraj Narine and Opposition Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan were, on Wednesday, arrested and placed on $100,000 station bail for allegedly obstructing traffic and attempting to incite racial and ethnic disunity in Guyana.

According to a statement issued by the police, based on an investigation, a file was submitted for legal advice indicating that Mayor Narine and MP Duncan be jointly charged with obstructing traffic in relation to them laying beneath a motor lorry on New Market Street.

It was recommended that Mayor Narine be charged with the offense of obstructing traffic, in relation to placing a wooden pallet on New Market Street.

Further, it was recommended that Mayor Narine and MP Duncan be jointly charged with the offense of using a computer system to attempt to excite ethnic divisions on the ground of race and with the offense of attempting to excite hostility or ill will on the ground of race.

The charges stemmed from a standoff between police and vendors outside the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Monday night. They were given a final notice to remove their stalls and other encumbrances from the roadway which they refused to heed.

Guyana Chronicle understands that the two will make a court appearance today.

On Wednesday, police ranks turned up at City Hall to arrest the duo and were blocked by a large crowd which included female vendors. One woman used her body to block the staircase while repeatedly saying that the mayor should be allowed to remain in his office to do his work.

It was later agreed that both Duncan and the mayor would go to the nearby Brickdam Police Station. However, several women stood in front of the officers and insisted that they were not going to allow them to transport the men by vehicle.

Mayor Narine, Duncan, party members and the police surrounded by the large crowd proceeded to the police station on foot. Dozens stood outside the station for almost an hour until the mayor and Duncan emerged.

Late Monday night, Narine made his “reckless” comments while also influencing efforts to obstruct the removal of carts, stalls, and other encumbrances belonging to the vendors.

The mayor, who is a practicing Hindu Pandit, baselessly accused President, Dr. Irfaan Ali of attempting to cause a “religious fight” and attempting to create a “Muslim state,” among other things.

Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., during his “Issues in the News” programme, which was streamed on Tuesday night, on Facebook, condemned the mayor’s remarks.

“First of all, these are baseless allegations. The attack on the president and the attack on the Government of Guyana were complete without factual foundation and they were wholly unwarranted.

“These are dangerous. These are highly antagonistic statements to make. These are sacrilegious statements. They are divisive statements, and they are statements that will only excite racial hostilities and religious animosities in our country. They must therefore be rejected and those who make them must be condemned…” he said during his programme.

The AG stressed that Guyana is a multi-religious and multi-cultural society where citizens live in harmony with their freedom of expression, which is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution.

“We have religious tolerance of a commendable degree in this country. We may have had racial problems which are exacerbated by politicians, but we have never had religious bigotry and what the mayor is doing is stoking religious strife and we will not tolerate that,” Nandlall added.

AG Nandlall pointed out that the mayor’s remarks amount to racial and ethnic discrimination and are therefore considered a criminal offense.

“We condemn it and, hopefully, the police will look at the file, carry out investigations, seek relevant legal advice, and be guided and advised accordingly. This is not the type of behaviour, this is not the type of utterances, this is not the type of reckless publications which we are prepared to tolerate.

“In a democratic society like ours, it is my duty as attorney general to condemn such hate speeches in the strongest possible terms. They have no place in a democratic, multi-cultural, multi-religious society, and they have no place in the united and cohesive Guyana which we are seeking to build as a government and as a people,” Nandlall said.

Following Mayor Narine’s utterances, several concerned citizens who were protesting in front of City Hall called for the mayor’s resignation.

President Dr. Ifraan Ali, his ministers, and the religious and business community have strongly condemned the mayor’s attempts to promote racial, and religious hostility among citizens.

“I have zero tolerance for race baiters and religious baiters in this country. They must be called out and shamed. The time for this nonsense has come to an end and we must start from here,” President Ali said during his address at the Police Commissioner’s Christmas Breakfast, on Tuesday.

“We must not allow these irrelevant misfits in a modern society to have their way. And I’m very careful in my definition of them… they are misfits. Anyone who tolerates disorder and baits people using racism or religious affiliation are misfits in a modern society. And I didn’t say so, go back to every single religious text and it will tell you that they are misfits,” Dr. Ali said.