The Guyana Government yesterday condemned Monday’s bizarre attack on columnist Freddie Kissoon and Kissoon maintains that the incident stemmed from a column he had written for the Kaieteur News. Around 7 pm on Monday, Kissoon had just returned to his car after an unplanned stop at Nigel’s Supermarket, when a “very squatty guy” threw a bowl of faeces into his face.
Kissoon told Stabroek News yesterday that he had given his statement to the police yesterday. Also, he said that he and the police went over surveillance footage from the businesses around the supermarket.
The footage however did not capture the attack on Kissoon. According to Kissoon, his vehicle was outside the frame of the surveillance cameras. The only images the cameras picked up were of him making his way to the supermarket and returning to his car with his purchase.
Kissoon had chased the man who escaped into a waiting white car on the Merriman Mall.
He stated that he only managed to discern that the car was an AT192 model and the only part of the plates he could have made out was PKK. But Kissoon is sure he can recognise the car if he sees it again. Yesterday, he told this newspaper that the car was a “very white, heavily tinted car” which he says he can identify if he sees it again.
On Monday night Kissoon expressed his belief that the attack was as a result of his article which was in Monday’s Kaieteur News. He had stated in that article “with what I discovered about Ms Nicola Ming and the people she entertained… I think people want me to stop that line” of investigation. He maintains however that he will not back down from what he is doing. “I can’t let these guys shut me up,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government in a statement called for an urgent investigation into the matter and for the police to “hold accountable the individual or individuals who perpetrated the act against Mr Kissoon”. The government said “Though mindful of serious misrepresentations, inaccuracies, and distortions articulated by Mr Kissoon in his Kaieteur News column, the Government of Guyana respects the right of journalists to freely express their views and stands firm in the defence of that right”.
Also condemning the attack was the Guyana Press Association who called it crude and callous and an assault on the press in Guyana. The GPA issued its statement on the night of the attack and warned that the slippage into dangerous and vile behaviour must not continue.
Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud deplored the attack on Kissoon. Aside from the personal assault on Kissoon, Persaud said the incident also constituted an attack on press freedom. He called on the police to conduct a diligent investigation into the matter.
The Alliance For Change also denounced the attack. In a statement, the party said:
“The intention is clear. Directly it is to embarrass, denigrate, and dehumanize a biting critic of the Government and the President. Indirectly it is to scare all other potential and actual critics into silence and/or a dilution of their criticisms and (social) commentary.
“Knowing Freddie as the AFC does, this attack will only urge him on to more intensely continue the fight against the wrongdoers in this society. Like Kaieteur News and thousands of readers, the AFC stands by you, Freddie.”
