Dear Editor,
On Sunday evening I disembarked a Route 32 bus at Stabroek Square from an Athletics Track Meet at the Leonora Stadium. I passed the Digicel booth heading towards the Demico Food Outlet when all of a sudden I heard this commotion behind me and as I turned around, I froze. There were two men – clearly foreigners – surrounded by a mob who apparently were about to launch an attack. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The foreigners were outnumbered and indeed all hell broke loose. The thinner of the foreign nationals managed to run a little way from his colleague who was left to do battle. Weapons were visible and one of the mobsters threw his cycle twice at the other foreign national and as much as the cycle hit him once, he maintained his position trying to fend them off. Apparently the foreign national managed to get something into his hand in defence to keep the mob at bay but they just kept charging towards the guy. He was very agile and I suspect he is trained with some skill because he managed to keep them at bay every time they kept charging in a circular manner. I think he realised he couldn’t keep up with the mob and started to retreat towards the direction of the Guyana Fire Service. At that point his colleague joined him. This occurred at exactly ten minutes to seven.
I stood there and said a prayer, God, please let them reach to safety and not be injured or harmed. I have no idea what happened afterwards.
Absolutely no one came to the rescue of the two foreigners for the time I stood there looking on. Even me, I couldn’t do anything.
Every Editor can attest to the fact that over the years I have made a great effort to market Dear Land of Guyana via the press but little did I know this was happening in the background.
I say to all Embassies and foreign nationals in Guyana, don’t ever dwell around the Stabroek Market Area. I am ashamed as a local to witness such a barbaric attack on those two foreign nationals.
The Guyana Police Force does not stand a chance in matching that mob in action.
Yours faithfully,
T. Pemberton
