By PACO NUNEZ

Tribune News Editor

FNM CANDIDATE Peter Turnquest has called in police to find those responsible for a politically-motivated assault that left his daughter and several others injured.

Mr Turnquest called on PLP leaders to control their party after four members of his campaign team were hurt when sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher, suffering burning eyes, nose and throat irritation, and in one case, chest pains.

He said: "We live in a democracy, where everyone should have the free right to express their political choice without fear of violence."

The East Grand Bahama candidate said thankfully, no one seems to have suffered any lasting harm, but as they don't know what type of chemical the device contained, he hopes there will be no residual affects.

While some fire extinguishers can be non-toxic, others contain extremely dangerous compounds that can cause a variety of health problems, in rare cases even death, if inhaled or ingested.

Mr Turnquest said: "We are calling on the leader of the opposition and the local candidate to urge their supporters to refrain from this type of behaviour and not let emotions get the better of them.

"We don't want to go down that road, so we feel it is incumbent on them to tell their supporters this sort of thing will not be tolerated."

The incident took place while FNM supporters were on the way to the party's constituency office opening for West Grand Bahama and Bimini on Saturday night. The PLP was also hosting an event in the area and the two groups of supporters crossed paths.

Mr Turnquest told the crowd on Saturday night: "When I came up here, I was in a very good mood, but I've got some very distressing news.

"It appears that the PLP motorcade decided to assault one of our trailers. Apparently, they sprayed a fire extinguisher onto the trailer coming into town with the FNMs on it.

"My daughter happened to be on that trailer and was sprayed in her eyes, along with one of my team."

Last night, FNM chairman Carl Bethel echoed the sentiments of Mr Turnquest, saying: "We condemn this alleged act of violence on our motorcade in the strongest possible terms.

"The party calls upon all other parties and political activists of every stripe to use restraint and govern themselves accordingly.

"Politics is not about violence, it is not about intimidation. The Bahamas has been down that road before, in 1972, and ever since then, there has been a clear consensus that we would never descend to those levels of extremism again. Ever.

"It is the ballot that counts, nothing else. Emotions can run high, so it falls to the leader of every party to urge restraint from their membership."

PLP leader Perry Christie and other senior PLP officials could not be reached for comment before press time last night. They were said to be attending a party function.