After two days of relative calm, unrest returned to the East Coast corridor yesterday and close to 200 angry residents were prevented from marching to the city to condemn Saturday’s massacre at Lusignan.
Police fired tear gas canisters at the protestors after repeatedly warning them that their march was unlawful.
In the end, several, including children, suffered the effects of the tear gas and had to be rushed to the hospital. Two young men, one of whom was said to be the leader of the march, were arrested.
Tempers reached boiling point during the five-hour standoff, after residents were told that no approval was granted for the procession and they reacted by threatening the police and the government.
A fire was set at the La Bonne Intention (LBI) public road temporarily stalling traffic as close to 20 police officers kept the protestors at bay at Triumph. A fire engine arrived at the scene within minutes and doused the flames.
Following the use of the tear gas, the protestors slowly made their way home but many vowed that their fight would continue. And, as if to make known their determination to carry out the plan, bottles and dried coconuts were hurled onto the roadway into the path of oncoming traffic.
Hours after the murders on Saturday of 11 Lusignan villagers, residents began their protest at the brutal slayings, blocking roads and setting fires on the two main roadways between Lusignan and Mon Repos to vent their anger.
When Stabroek News arrived at Mon Repos around 10.20 am yesterday, around 200 villagers were on the street being watched closely by several uniformed policemen.
The policemen kept the crowd from impeding traffic and ranks could be heard warning the protestors that they had not applied for permission to have a march and as such could not be on the road.
Before going to Mon Repos, the protestors assembled at Lusignan some time after 8 am and were preparing to march to the city. However, a large contingent of policemen and several soldiers were deployed to the area and the protestors were warned that their intention was illegal.
Stabroek News was told that some of the protestors then boarded passing vehicles intent on assembling at another point.
No permission
One angry protestor said that at Lusignan the police and the soldiers blocked them and took away their placards. He said they told them that they could not protest because they did not have a permit to do so, but he stressed that an application was sent to the police on Tuesday with no response thus far.
“We ain’t able wait pon them no more. They gon neva give we de pass and we gotta march. We want to march,” the protestor said.
Paul Hardy and Everall Franklin, leader and party member of the Guyana Action Party (GAP) respectively were among those who lined the road for more than half an hour, repeatedly telling them that permission was needed.
“You can’t have a march without a permit… There was no permission. Do not move off because if you do it will be deemed illegal. Put in a proper application right away,” Franklin told the residents who refused to listen to anything he had to say.
The protestors vowed not to leave the area until President Bharrat Jagdeo went and spoke to them. They said they were living in fear and nothing was being done for them.
“Is we money does pay y’all police them. We nah kill nobody. We ain’t do nothing wrang
