says violence, looting was in part supported by opposition elements

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday condemned the horrific acts of violence and looting which occurred on Monday evening, saying that some of the illegalities were supported by people associated with the opposition.
Dr Jagdeo made these remarks during his weekly press conference held at Freedom House on Robb Street.

The general secretary said that though some of the rioters were fueled by selfish motives, a significant amount of them were influenced by those affiliated with the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R).
“A lot of people were mobilised to come there and we know they were mobilised because the intelligence is coming out…it goes right back to the political actors,” Dr Jagdeo said.
He pointed out that in some cases, the individuals were led to engage in riotous activities by those connected to the political opposition.

“They [the rioters] were led by them. The signals were coming from them. They were directing people how to act,” he revealed.
For those who were directed by the political actors, the main objective was to instill fear and wreak havoc on the country.

“The objective was terror…that was the purpose of this exercise, not justice for Adrianna [Younge],” he explained.
Condemning the violence and looting, Dr Jagdeo said that these activities will in no way bring honour to the name of Adrianna Younge, who expert pathologists confirmed died by drowning last week.

“And yet there are people out there who are defending this on social media…You tell me how fetching away a TV from Courts has anything to do with getting justice for Adrianna Younge,” the general secretary posited.
Rebutting the claim that the PPP/C planted individuals in the riots to stir up violence to later blame it on the PNC/R, Dr Jagdeo said that he hopes the opposition will now support the police’s actions to charge several persons under the Terrorism Act and place them before the courts.

“Now that they’ve all said they don’t support looting and any of this stuff, I hope they support the police when we take condign action against all the perpetrators…the police have free reign to act in a professional manner but in a manner in keeping with the maintenance of law and order,” he opined.
He said that the PPP/C’s position has always been one in favour of ownership and not destruction.

“The PPP works at bringing people together, not harming them. We want people to own things, not to burn things. We want our kids to be educated…we believe in inclusion,” the general secretary highlighted.
In spite of this, Dr Jagdeo said that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) will fulfill their mandate of protecting citizens from these criminal elements.

“We also have a duty, as I said before, to thoroughly investigate this matter, but we also have a duty to protect the people of this country. All of them, when they go about their business,” Dr Jagdeo asserted.