By Gaulbert Sutherland and Cathy Richards
Lindeners resumed protests yesterday as outrage grew over the fatal shooting of three residents, including two teens, by police, while the government and opposition parties grappled over the setting up of an official inquiry into the tragedy.
Linden was a town in mourning yesterday. Emotions ran high, businesses remained shuttered and tension gripped the community as residents returned to the streets and set fire to tyres and debris before holding a vigil to remember the dead last night.
In the wake of the fatal shooting of Selwyn Boyea, 18, Ron Somerset, 19 and Alan Lewis, 54 and the wounding of at least 20 others during a confrontation with police on Wednesday, residents called for justice and emphasised that the deaths changed things. “They have changed the nature of the protest from just electricity, to compensation for lives that were lost and the people who are suffering in the hospital,” pastor and APNU parliamentarian Renis Morian told Stabroek News.
In Georgetown, the government and opposition APNU and AFC attempted to negotiate a path forward. President Donald Ramotar held talks with delegations from the opposition political parties, APNU and the AFC and the Office of the President said that the administration reiterated its pledge of a “full investigation.” It made no mention of a Commission of Inquiry.
But APNU and opposition leader David Granger told Stabroek News that as far as he was concerned, a Commission of Inquiry was “definitely” agreed to and terms of reference were being formulated, for which the coalition will make submissions. “It was decided that a Commission of Inquiry will be held,” he said, adding that it should be set up in the shortest possible time. “It’s a matter of urgency,” he emphasised, while adding that it would include an international dimension though the specifics were not yet worked out.
The AFC said that during the meeting, it had pushed for the appointment of an Independent Commission of Inquiry with international agency representation and involvement and a ‘Good Officer’ to manage the process. “It was clear to the AFC that the government was not willing to take on board any of these measures, referring instead to the establishment [of] a group that would produce Terms of Reference for an inquiry but not guaranteeing international input,” it, however, noted.
“This approach the AFC considered another “talk shop” that could lead nowhere. It was clear that the other two parties seemed willing to get into “bilateral arrangements” on this issue,” the party added.
No warning
While the politicians met in the city, on the dusty streets of the bauxite-mining town, the overriding emotion was anger even as residents mourned their “martyrs.”
Several Lindeners told Stabroek News that the police gave no warning before firing tear gas and bullets and even as the protesters fled under the onslaught, the law enforcement officials continued to fire. They also denied pelting the police before the shooting started, though they admitted that after the first bullets were fired, some bricks were hurled at the lawmen.
Morian said that it was at about 6:30pm on Wednesday when just over a dozen “black clothes” police arrived. Two held a poster but in the fading light the words were difficult to read, he added. The police were advancing from the Mackenzie side of the town onto the bridge leading to Wismar.
According to Morian, when the shooting started, speeches by several community leaders had just wrapped up. He said the first man who was shot was being shoved into a bus by the police but he jumped out and as he ran, he was shot in the back twice. He said that when the man (Lewis) fell, the police fired at him again and the crowd reacted by hurling missiles. “The crowd reacted and started to pelt, the police started to fire,” he said.
The pastor said that no warning shots were fired and insisted that if the protest had been violent, he and the other pastors that were present would not have been there. “We would not have been there as pastors if there was anything untoward or violent,” he said. Morian added that he assisted in putting the wounded man in a vehicle but as the gunfire continued, he was among the many that fled.
His account of the non-violence in the lead up to the shooting was corroborated by other residents, who noted that children and the elderly were among the crowd on the bridge. “The people who are going out after yesterday will not be caught unaware by the police,” Morian warned. He appealed for talks with the president and said that a proposal to reduce electricity usage was approved a few years ago but the government reneged on the deal. The parliamentarian condemned the actions of the government and said that the administration needs to apologise.
Back on the
streets
On the second day of the planned five-day protest against the hike in the power tariff yesterday, Lindeners were back on the streets on both banks of the Demerara River, erecting blockades across the road and lighting fires. Hardest hit by the blockades was the Winifred Gaskin Highway at strategic locations at the One Mile Junction, Livan Corner at One Mile and Big Red Corner. There was a heavy police and army presence in the area even as the Linden fire-fighters worked to put out the blazes. Last evening, more joint army and police patrols were sent to Linden.
Residents condemned the police special squad that shot and killed the three residents and injured more than twenty, nine of whom remained hospitalised yesterday. They were especially outraged at the statement by the police as reported in several of the daily newspapers that they were attacked by angry protestors, resulting in them spraying tear gas and shooting into the crowd.
“That’s a plain and outright lie from the pit of hell,” one resident said. Others insisted that at the time the police fired at them, they were lining the street from the hospital junction. “If they had ten persons on the road there, they had a lot,” cried one woman. They explained that earlier in the day the ranks were made to retreat after they attempted to convince people to clear the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge. “The people were coming forward to them with absolutely no violence, just crying and begging them not to shoot ’cause we peaceful. They back down and went away,” recounted an angry resident.
When the squad returned later that afternoon, they spanned the road from the hospital junction and held up a banner towards residents, who were lining the side of the road. They then sprayed tear gas. “They turned directly to us on the side and shoot tear gas at us. I had to duck a woman who was coming from the hospital with a sick baby in a car to save her,” a man related.
A security guard who was in the compound of the Linmine Secretariat said that he was shocked when he noticed the squad directly shooting tear gas into the compound. “Somebody had an agenda ’cause I can’t figure out till this day how and why they would directly turn to us and shoot tear gas at us,” he said. “To say that we pelt obstacles at them and cause them to shoot is a nasty, blatant lie,” added another. Several of the protestors who were at the bridge held up newspapers, crying “… they killed our children.” The angry group said that at the time of the shooting, most of them were on the bridge playing music, engaged in loud prayer and singing.
“The next thing we know is this smoke tek over deh bridge and people falling down like sand, just sah you know!” said one woman, whose account was echoed by several others. “Not a sound, not a sound, we heard absolutely nothing but just hear shooting and tear gas,” was the response from one of the protestors, when asked whether they had heard the squad appealing to them. “My sixty-odd year-old mother was on the bridge and deh shoot she in she back! My God how could this be right?” cried a woman.
Another woman, who was bound for an interior location, said that she took a decision to remain in Linden and join the protest because she felt an injustice was done. “We came out of a bus at one end and were walking over to the other side to catch another bus to go our way and about ten of us was tear gas,” she recalled, adding that because they were walking as a group, the squad shot tear gas directly at them. “The tin hit my friend and buss she face up. How can that be fair? We weren’t part of this. We were just going our peaceful way.”
Fires
In the aftermath of the shooting, fires were set and the Linmine Secretariat burnt to the ground. The PPP office close to the Five Corner was also set alight and the interior was burned and windows broken while other items, including a computer were destroyed. The building itself was not destroyed although the interior suffered severe damage. Evidence of apparent attempts to set the Guyana Revenue Authority building was also seen and several windows were broken while ash lay at some of the openings.
Yesterday, Joint Services ranks patrolled the community, including the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge to ensure that the path was kept clear. However, vehicles attempting to proceed to interior locations were being prevented from doing so because of the large fires and other blockades along the main and bypass roads. As ranks cleared some of the blockades residents re-erected them making it challenging for the roadway to stay open for any length of time.
Several leaders and concerned residents have been appealing to protestors not to lose track of the objective and to be alert that they do not do things that will hurt the community or themselves.
