Red Thread is calling on President Bharrat Jagdeo to convene a special sitting of the National Assembly to hear an official statement from Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj on the crime problem in the country, and to find solutions to it. At the same time the group is also urging the PNCR to set aside its boycott of Parliament to participate in such a sitting.
It is hoped, a release said, that the media will raise these demands with both the President and the PNCR.
Meanwhile, the 24-hour vigil which started on April 17 outside the Office of the President has continued for over eight days without let up, the release said.
Several persons have been participating in the protest vigil against the continued violent attacks and increasing loss of life amongst Guyana's young people. The vigil was initiated by Red Thread and supported by WAVE (Women Against Violence Everywhere), several community and non-governmental organizations and members of the general public.
The vigil was started in direct response to the kidnapping and slaughter of teenage schoolboy Joshua Bell, the slaying of 17-year-old Su Zhi Wei in Agricola and the attempted kidnapping of children in Coldingen and Strathspey on the East Coast Demerara, the release noted. It posed the question: "How much lower can a nation sink when it will stand by and watch its children killed and do nothing?"
All members of the public, the release added, are encouraged to attend the vigil and register their dissatisfaction with what is referred to as the present inaction with regards to the violence.