The United National Congress (UNC) has called for a police investigation into a social media post showing a gun target at the heart of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
In a statement on Saturday, the UNC “categorically condemned” the social media video which the political party says, “suggests that violence be committed against Prime Minister Keith Rowley.”
The statement went further in saying, “We also condemn and completely dissociate ourselves from the unauthorised use of Opposition Leader Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s voice in that video.”
The political party called for an “immediate police investigation into the said social media video, to find out who is behind this mischief and to press the relevant charges against the offender(s) at once.”
The 12-second video is captioned, “Load the ‘matic and empty the clip on them on August 14”. The date of Local Government Elections is Monday 14 August 2023.
In the video, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar appears in a box on the top-left of the screen on the political platform saying:
“We have to load up this ‘matic! We have to pull it back, you have to lock it again, then lock it again…”
Meanwhile, the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) also released a statement “condemning in the strongest way” the video which shows a gun with the sound of bullets being fired, and showing the Prime Minister with a target on his chest.
Political leader of the NTA, Gary Griffith, said:
“As a political leader myself, I understand the strong emotions and passion that arises at election time, but this is unacceptable and can be seen as inciting violence.”
The party issued a call for persons to immediately stop sharing or producing such videos, and to refrain from similar themes when making memes or doing posts and making comments.
Griffith stated, “The NTA also wants to reiterate that we see those from other political parties as political opponents—never political enemies—and we strongly urge others to do the same.”