By Oscar P. Clarke
Stabroek News
June 8, 2001

A fracas erupted outside CNS Channel Six yesterday when followers of controversial television personality Mark Benschop tried to shut the station down because it had ended its brief relationship with him.

A small crowd of persons gathered outside the Robb Street offices of CNS 6 calling for the owner Chandra Narine Sharma to come out. Further, they demanded the reinstatement of the controversial TV Talk Show host whose programme had been cut by the station's owner following a disagreement over his programme content.

Benschop had begun operating his `Straight Up' programme from the Channel Six studios recently after having refused to work within the guidelines stipulated by his former station, NBTV Channel Nine.

Several ranks from the Guyana Police Force were summoned to the Robb Street premises after the group threatened to stone the station and shut its doors.

Prior to their arrival, the station's owner, Sharma, was seen with a rifle on an upper balcony of the three-storey building which doubles as his home, vowing to protect his property "by all means necessary".

Speaking to reporters later, Sharma stated that the protesters had been sent by Benschop after he (Sharma) had asked him to terminate his programme due to utterances which he deemed unsavoury.

"I had given Mark a chance to change his life but he is incapable of changing" stated Sharma while giving reasons for his show being cancelled.

Efforts by Stabroek News to contact Benschop failed. Calls to his home were met by a message from an answering machine.

Earlier, a group was said to have gathered at the Mandela Avenue NBTV Channel 9 studios protesting the cancellation of Benschop's programme which had been aired for many months on that station.

Management of the station this week stated that Benschop found it inconvenient to subscribe to guidelines submitted to all presenters and subsequently left the channel.

The group which descended on the CNS studio used political party billboards located outside the premises to block the entrance while they drummed on vehicles parked outside the station.

Prior to his stint on Channel 9, Benschop had been hosting the `Straight Up' show on NTN Channel 69. Problems with the owner of that outfit caused him to leave that station also.