Granger: Police have killed 288 in 17 years

Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform, Brigadier David Granger has condemned the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police for the deaths of over 288 persons in the past 17 years.

In a statement today, Granger said this number meant that the Police had been killing men consistently at a rate of more than one person per month through most of the PPP/C’s term in office.

Granger was speaking at a rally organised by the Guyana Youth and Students Movement (GYSM) at the Stabroek Market square. He urged citizens to speak out against Police killings and to apply pressure on the Government to bring Police killings to a halt.

The GYSM rally was part of a week of peaceful protests by the PNCR against the killing by the Police of Shaquille Grant in Agricola and Dameon Belgrave in Georgetown, in particular.

The PNCR said it rejected the usual excuses provided by the Police that they “shot the victims while attempting to arrest them” or while a crime was being committed. It said that the Police tried to make a similar excuse in the case of the shooting of Grant in Agricola but this was refuted by neighbours and observers who actually witnessed the crime.

The PNCR said that the PPP/C administration continues to refuse to recognize the 288 police killings as a problem. The PPP/C also refuses to conduct investigations into Police killings unless brought under public pressure to do so.