Youth Groups register abhorrence with Giftland’s crowd control measure

The Youth for Change, Guyana Youth and Student Movement, Walter Rodney Youth Movement and The Youth for Local Government have come together as One Youth with One Voice to state publicly their “abhorrence with the manner in which the Management of Giftland Mall has chosen to deal with the issue of crowd control.”

According to a joint press release issued today (Friday December 23, 2016) while for some it may be seen as a wise idea to institute a charge that can be redeemable, the Groups believe the statement issued by Giftland’s Management, which reads “this charge is solely for youngsters who are hanging out in groups with no intention of shopping and whose sole purpose is to annoy and disrupt normal shoppers,” to go unnoticed.

“We as One Youth hereby call on the Management of Giftland Mall to withdraw this statement forthwith. While we acknowledge that businesses and the private sector have the right to implement best practices that favor growth and protect their investment we urge the managing directors of Giftland Mall to rethink their method of crowd control as it may serve as a basis for negatively profiling persons.”

In the interest of providing balance, the Groups are encouraging proprietors to operate in an environment of security and comfort while considering the interests of their consumers, ensuring equal and fair treatment to all demographics of Guyana.

“We also wish to remind all proprietors that you can ill afford to be discriminatory or appear to be discriminatory if you intend to enjoy the confidence of all consumers. We also would like to take this time to encourage our fellow youth to show that we are more than the negative stereotypes that we are often portrayed as, that we are more than the negative labels and tags placed on us,” the statement concluded.