The dispute occurred in the vicinity of the Café Del Sol along Lawrence Boulevard in the Marquee Plaza, around 11am on 19 April, according to police.
“Police responded to a report of a verbal altercation in Lawrence Boulevard shortly after 11am Thursday, 19 April, where it is alleged one male threatened another,” the police statement about the incident read.
Royal Cayman Islands Police provided an update on the situation Friday: “An investigation has been conducted and a file is currently with [the] legal [department] for ruling.”
The man who said he was threatened in the incident, Amjed Zureigat, claimed that some men were taking cell phone camera pictures of him inside the Cafe Del Sol store and behaving in a threatening manner.
Mr. Zureigat said he filed a report with police over the incident and was awaiting word on whether charges would be filed.
The Compass has contacted two of the three individuals involved in what police described as the “verbal altercation”.
One declined to comment, another said he hadn’t taken anyone’s picture at the location.
The two individuals are not being identified by the newspaper because they have not been arrested or charged with any crime.
Mr. Zureigat, a Jordanian national who often calls into local talk radio programmes, had been “banned” earlier in the day from appearing on the Rooster FM morning talk show “Crosstalk”.
“I consider this a sad time for freedom of expression and democracy in the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Zureigat said on 19 April. “It’s very sad … that if you have a certain opinion, a certain radio station will not let you voice your opinion.”
Long-time show host Austin Harris said Mr. Zureigat’s comments about the Rooster morning talk show not letting him “voice his opinion” were not true. Mr. Harris acknowledged that Mr. Zureigat had been told he wouldn’t be allowed to call the show, but only after Mr. Harris said the Jordan native told the show hosts he would hold them liable if something happened because of public fallout from Mr. Zureigat’s appearances on the call-in programme.
Mr. Harris said he could not allow Rooster FM to be held liable in such a situation, so he told Mr. Zureigat not to call Crosstalk anymore.
Mr. Zureigat, who has been in Grand Cayman six years and is married to a Caymanian, has often found himself in the press or local media. In 2007, the Compass published an interview with him after he was assaulted behind a building downtown by perpetrators that appeared to be wearing high school uniforms.
He has also made other claims of being attacked for various reasons and more recently said he was being threatened by certain individuals because of opinions he was stating on Crosstalk, in particular.
The Compass checked with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service regarding any threats alleged to have been made against Mr. Zureigat.
Only one such incident has been reported; the one that occurred just hours after Mr. Harris told Mr. Zureigat he could no longer call in to the talk show. No other earlier reports of threats or violence against Mr. Zureigat as a result of his talk show appearances have been made, police said.
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