As E-day draws closer political parties have stepped up their campaigning in the Linden community, with a few confrontations arising to the extent that the police have been called in and persons taken into custody.
On Sunday night there were two such occurrences in the communities of Amelia’s Ward and Silvertown. At Lover’s Lane in Amelia’s Ward a heated confrontation ensued between PPP/C activists and a couple who reside there.
According to several eyewitnesses PPP/C workers were in the process of mounting posters on a pole that was at the front of a family’s home but the couple were not supporters of the ruling party.
“The husband came out and shouted that he didn’t want dem things going up in front of his yard and then he come out and shake de ladder that ‘Skinny’ (PPP/C worker) was on and de whole thing blow up from then on,” said an eyewitness.
They claimed that the man’s wife subsequently came out and a heated argument ensued among the three with several threats being levelled.
Shortly afterwards, according to eyewitnesses, a drove of police officers, members of the community policing group and PPP/C members arrived on the scene.
“You would think that it was a big pashway (brawl) that was teking place,” reported someone who was on the scene. “Is suh deh police surround the place as if they came to arrest some big criminal,” added another witness who saw the scene unfolding from her veranda.
The couple was quickly taken into police custody and whisked away to the police station. It was not certain if they were taken to the Amelia’s Ward Police Outpost or the Mackenzie Police Station.
However, Stabroek News was reliably informed that the couple was placed on the bench at the station but was shortly afterwards warned and made to apologize for their behaviour following the intervention of Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn who was in the area at the time.
This newspaper understands that ‘Skinny’ was also taken into custody and later released.
“I don’t think it had to go so far but ‘Skinny’ was too hot headed,” opined another eyewitness, who added that the resident involved had admitted that he should not have gone to the extreme of shaking the ladder with the man on it.
“But it was just a little teasing touch, he didn’t mean anything with that nor did he intend to throw him off,” said residents who served as peacemakers.
Meanwhile, the other incident occurred in Middle Street, Silvertown, Wismar, Linden on Sunday night.
According to a resident they were on an empty, private lot in the area playing their usual friendly game of volleyball when they were forced off the ground by a PPP/C representative who claimed that the party was given the authority to take control of the ground to construct a stage for a public meeting the same night.
One of the men involved said that they were not approached in a polite manner but were being bullied.
“‘Skinny’ said that he called de minister and said that de minister is the person who gave dem permission to put the stage there. You could imagine they stopped us from playing.”
This resulted in a heated argument between residents and the man called ‘Skinny’.
Courtney Handy and Dexter Bell, both PPP/C members, were on the scene and they stepped in and ordered that the residents be allowed to complete their game and apologized to the residents.
The same evening Bell who was the driver of the party vehicle was involved in a heated argument with a Silvertown resident after he allegedly hit the resident’s dog down, killing it and driving away.
An eyewitness to the incident said that at the time the vehicle was moving around the community advertising the PPP/C meeting when the pet, agitated by the loud speaker, ran out of its yard and was run over.
“He knew very well that he hit the dog and he didn’t even bother to stop.” Again in this instance Benn and Handy stepped in as peacemakers and offered to pay the owner for the dog.
When contacted about the matter yesterday Handy said that he was not authorized to speak on matters of the party but confirmed that he was present and aware of what had transpired in Silvertown.
However, he had a different version of the story saying that a resident had accused one of the party’s drivers of killing his pet dog. He said that the vehicle did hit the dog along Burnham Drive Road in the vicinity of Silvertown but the dog ran back into the yard after being hit.
Compensation
He added that shortly afterwards they were confronted by the owner who said that his dog had been killed. “We didn’t want any problems because we recognized he and then four others came along and they started with this dog thing, saying how we killed their dog and whatever,” said Handy.
The men called for $10,000 as compensation but after negotiation accepted $6,000 which was given to them immediately. “When they collected it they laugh and went away,” said Handy.
Prior to paying the compensation for the pet, Handy said that they were being told that they could use the plot of land for their meeting but this was rescinded after the compensation was paid. He said that when they got to the plot of land which has been converted into a playfield, a group of girls were playing volleyball and were allowed to complete their game before they went ahead with the meeting.
