Groups picket ministry over 1823 monument site

The picketers yesterday

Several groups picketed outside the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport yesterday to press for the 1823 Demerara Slave Rebellion monument to be erected at Parade Ground, the site where those who participated in the insurrection were killed.

Angry protesters, including members of the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), the Manumitted African Descen-dants Organisation, and Pan African Movement, raised their voices against a move by the ministry to erect the monument along the seawall opposite Camp Ayanganna,  instead of the insurrection site.

They assembled across the street from the ministry’s Main Street offices after a demonstration in front of the Parade Ground, where slaves had been tortured and beheaded after the revolt nearly 190 years ago. “Parade Ground where blood was shed,” they chanted, drawing the attention of passing civilians.

“This is an arbitrary act committed by