The PNCR has expressed regrets to businesswoman Jocelyn Dow over an unpleasant confrontation outside of Congress Place during the Inter-Religious Day of Atonement exercise on Monday.
At the party’s weekly press briefing on Thursday, PNCR Chairman Robert Corbin said that the party was aware of the fact that there was an unpleasant confrontation involving Dow which was most unfortunate.
Corbin said that the Party “does not in any way condone nor is it in any way responsible for the words and actions of some of the more exuberant bystanders and we wish to make it clear that their actions were not organised by or sanctioned by the PNCR.” The party wished, he said, to publicly express its profound regrets to Dow.
In an invited comment Dow told Stabroek News that she was appreciative of the apology but was not willing to discuss the event in the media as she felt that it could only add to more unpleasantness and the matter was already at an end.
A group of women had abused participants in the event outside Congress Place and had burnt a coffin which was intended to signify the large number of deaths from the crime wave. The women felt that the coffin was offensive to the PNCR.
Commenting on the activities associated with the Inter-Religious Day of Atonement which should have culminated in the linking of hands exercise, Corbin said that while most of the participants were able to conduct themselves in a manner befitting the occasion, there was an unwelcome element of provocation and partisanship which detracted from the event.
He said the use of the symbol of a black coffin outside the party’s headquarters was uncalled for “and leads one to doubt the sincerity and bona fides of some of the organisers of the event.”