The Tribune

THE PLP are becoming more and more "unruly" as their desperation increases ahead of the general election, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said. Pointing to an alleged assault in the House of Assembly last week, the fire extinguisher incident in Grand Bahama over the weekend, and claims of voter fraud in North Andros, Mr Ingraham urged FNM supporters not to follow suit. Speaking at the launch of the party's Carmichael constituency office, Mr Ingraham said: "While we are dealing with the serious issues of criminal violence and anti-social behaviour, the PLP are acting more and more unruly as they get more and more desperate. "Don't forget that during the BTC debate, senior PLPs demonstrated alongside known criminal elements. If it wasn't for the police, the House of Assembly could have been overrun." Police in Grand Bahama are still investigating Saturday's incident in which, it is claimed, FNMs in a motorcade were sprayed with a fire extinguisher from another vehicle. Mr Ingraham said: "As many as six people were affected in ways requiring medical attention. "One such person was the young daughter of our candidate for East Grand Bahama, Peter Turnquest, and another was a lady whose asthma was badly affected and who continues to experience respiratory problems. "Several others also are experiencing headaches, fatigue and eye and throat discomfort requiring them to take antibiotics and in some instances to remain away from their jobs. "Let me say a couple of things. First of all, there ain't no fire extinguisher big enough to put out this FNM torch. Keep the fire burning. Crab season or not, if any crabs were involved in that incident, we hope the police catch them." Mr Ingraham also reminded supporters that when Pineridge MP Kwasi Thompson was trying to make a speech in Parliament, he was "assaulted by the other side". PLP St Thomas More representative Frank Smith repeatedly tried to stop Mr Thompson from speaking, covering and moving his microphone. Mr Thompson claims he was touched several times during the incident. "Just like when he was in office, (PLP leader Perry) Christie said never a word about such terrible conduct by one of his MPs," Mr Ingraham said. The prime minister told FNMs not to be provoked into committing political violence. "We will tolerate absolutely no violence of any sort by our people. We will conduct ourselves in a nonviolent and peaceful manner. Just remember, there's more than one way to catch a crab," he said. He added: "In North Andros, we're cleaning up the register and making sure some of them crabs don't do the wrong thing. You know when you're searching for crabs, you need a good torch to find them. Well (FNM candidate) Desmond Bannister 'gat a bright torch and Desmond gonna win North Andros." The prime minister also slammed the opposition for causing "a major disruption" when they visited the Straw Market last week. "They caused some vendors to lose sales that day. They could have caused a fight to break out. But they don't care because it's all about their selfish interests," he said.