Warning that they will not rest until social and political activist, Melissa Atwell-Holder is released from US detention, scores of supporters gathered at the Square of the Revolution on Tuesday evening to lend their support and call for her release.
With chants of “free Melly Mel”, those gathered at the support rally accused the Government of triggering the arrest in the United States by filing complaints against the activist over her criticism of the Government.
Atwell-Holder was arrested and taken into custody from her New York home by the Department of Homeland Security. She was later transferred to a detention facility of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, said Atwell- Holder exposing Government corruption angered the Irfaan Ali led administration.
“Melissa’s only crime is that she exposed crime. Melissa’s only crime is that she exposed corruption. And you know the only thing that the PPP produces is forgery and crime, and so she affects their production,” the Opposition Leader said.
Underscoring the need for an international campaign, Norton urged Guyanese in the US to mobilize and lobby US Senators and Congressmen and women to secure the release of Atwell-Holder.
“This fight is also in the United States, and therefore, all of you must call your families, your friends, and ask them to write the senators and congressmen in the United States to get help for Melissa. It must be pointed out that she committed no crime because all she was doing was exposing criminals,” Norton said.
Accusing the Government of being behind Atwell-Holder’s arrest, the Opposition Leader warned “today its Melissa, tomorrow is someone else.”
Adding her voice to the rally, Opposition Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir made it clear that Guyanese will not allow the Administration to erode the country’s democracy.
“Brothers and sisters make no mistake, this is going to require time, it is going to require effort, and it is going to require us to be stronger than we have ever been before. Understand that our country is at a place, and so an attack on Melly Mel, is an attack on free speech,” MP Walton-Desir said.
She placed the blame, squarely at the feet of the President and Vice President.
“There is nothing you can tell me, that her detention was not procured by Bharrat Jagdeo, and Irfaal Ali. It doesn’t matter what press statement they put out we see them. We know that they went to Washington to complain on one woman,” she said.
Meanwhile, quoting Martin Luther King Jr., President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Norris Witter said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Adding her voice, one of Melissa Atwell-Holder’s close friends, Odessa Primus said it is time that Guyanese rise up against the injustices, and speak out against the PPP/C Administration.
“We shall not be silenced by this government. The amount of facts that Melissa has put your there, as it relates to the Government, and the corruption they are involved in, they are frighten!” she said, while describing the Government as wicked.
Atwell-Holder is expected to face a US Immigration Judge in June. However, a bond hearing is likely to take place before then.
Many of her supporters believe that her arrest was triggered by complaints that were filed against her by the Government of Guyana, which had accused her of a number of cyber crimes locally over many of her social media statements and revelations.
The rally is expected to continue next Tuesday.
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