JAMAICA’S Ministry of National Security has confirmed that Guyanese Muslim leader Gerald Anthony Perreira was removed from a flight in Antigua on Friday while on his way here to attend the Million Man March.
“The process of denying a person entry into Jamaica is done as part of standard operating procedures to safeguard Jamaica’s borders,” the ministry said in statement released after the incident.
Perreira has since indicated that he plans to lodge a complaint with the Guyanese government and has threatened legal action against the Jamaican Government.
The Caribbean Media Corporation quoted him as saying the decision to deny him entry into Jamaica was a breach of his right to freedom of movement as a CARICOM national.
Perreira, who is chairman of the Black Consciousness Movement Guyana, also accused United States authorities of pressuring Jamaica to prevent certain individuals attending the 19th anniversary celebration of the Million Man March, which was held at the National Arena in Kingston.
He recalled that he was ordered off a flight in Antigua and Barbuda and told that Jamaican authorities had refused him permission to land.
Perreira is the second Caribbean national to have been denied entry to Jamaica for the event.
Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the Trinidad and Tobago-based group Jamaat Al Muslimeen, was refused entry into Jamaica last Wednesday and returned to his homeland the following day on board a private jet hired by the Jamaican Government.
