The army flew the bodies of the three slain Linden men out of the community via helicopter yesterday afternoon, angering residents who entered a third day of planned protests and as night fell there was a complete blackout in the town.
Relatives of the dead and residents had strenuously demanded that autopsies be done in the community, because they said that they did not trust the police in the wake of Wednesday’s fatal shooting of persons participating in protests over the hike in the town’s electricity tariff.
With the government not committing outright to shelving its plan to have residents pay more of the cost for electricity, some protestors yesterday signalled their readiness to extend their demonstrations.
Ivan Lewis of Wismar Housing Scheme, Ron Somerset of Amelia’s Ward and Shemroy Bouyea of Wisroc Housing Scheme were killed after police opened fire at the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge. Police have said that they opened fire after missiles were hurled at them but protestors and others have disputed this account. The men’s bodies are currently being stored at the Lyken’s Funeral Home in the city awaiting autopsies, which will be crucial in the full investigation that has been committed to by government.
Asked to comment on the decision to fly the bodies to the city for the autopsies, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee last evening directed all inquiries to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud. Stabroek News was unable to reach Persaud for comment. This newspaper was, however, told that it has been a normal practice by police over the years to transport bodies in their custody to the city for post-mortem examinations.
Up to press time last evening, the town remained in darkness, forcing many to go to their homes. The cause of the blackout was unknown and officials of the power company said it would be difficult to manoeuvre the area due to the blockades that were erected.
Linden is likely to face a total power outage if some main roads continue to remain inaccessible, this newspaper was told. According to a reliable source close the Bosai Services, the company has fuel that will run up to sometime around noon on Sunday at the power generation plant.
By virtue of the blocked roads, the fuel tanker cannot gain access to resupply the power plant from the Sol Depot at the Christianburg Omai Wharf, on the Wismar shore. Should the roads remain blocked until Sunday, the town faces a total cut off of electricity.
‘Aggravating
the situation’
At around 3pm yesterday, members of the army removed the bodies of the three men from the Upper Demerara Hospital mortuary. With numerous roadblocks set up around the community by protesting residents, they were unable to leave. The bodies were subsequently taken to the Mackenzie Police Station and when the helicopter arrived, they were transported to the nearby Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) Ground, from where they were placed in the aircraft. Tactical service units positioned themselves at strategic points surrounding the ground where the aircraft had landed, in an effort to prevent any attempt to interfere with the transport of the bodies.
“Was like they done ready fuh shoot again. They lay down on the road like if they at a war or something and they pointing the gun at people,” said one woman. “Look at this! Just look at this! So many times we does get really serious accident and need to get people out of here on emergency and no helicopter never come fuh dem. Now, ’cause they know they got to cover they dutty wuk, they send helicopter but it ain’t gon go down suh,” added an angry male protestor.
It was not clear if any relatives of the deceased were aboard the aircraft.
The transport of the bodies out of the town occurred as leaders of opposition party AFC were meeting with residents and taking statements from some of those who were involved in Wednesday’s protest.
Upon hearing of the effort to remove the bodies out of Linden AFC’s Gerhard Ramsaroop and party colleagues as well as trade unionist Lincoln Lewis and others rush to the MSC ground but by the time they got there the bodies were already aboard the aircraft, which was about to take off.
They enquired if relatives of the men were aboard the aircraft. “No, some of dem people relatives ain’t even know that they move them from the mortuary,” one of the persons at the scene explained. Ramsaroop encourage that relatives of the men be contacted to be present at the Lyken Funeral Home, where they suspected that the bodies would be taken.
“They just aggravating the situation cause is Mondays they does do post-mortem. Wah is the big rush now fuh carry them away today Friday (yesterday)?” questioned a resident.
‘Let them come
to you’
Prior to the removal of the men’s bodies, AFC executive Nigel Hughes, in a brief address to protesters on the Wismar end of the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge Bridger, brought residents up to speed about what transpired at a meeting the previous day between opposition parties and President Donald Ramotar. He said that foremost among the demands was the call for an independent inquiry with an international component to lead the investigations. “We told him that until this day, they can’t provide the results of the Lindo Creek massacre, which is evidence enough to show that this government is not capable enough to do the job,” he said. (See story on page 12)
On the issue of the increase in electricity tariff at Linden which sparked the protest, Hughes admonished residents not to allow persons from outside of the town to lead their negotiations. “Let them come to you. You must be the ones to say directly to this government what it is that you want. Nobody outside of this Town should negotiate for you,” he emphasised.
The AFC representatives spent several hours in the town recording video evidence from residents relating the actions of the police on Wednesday, when more than 20 persons were injured.
Hughes told Stabroek News afterward that they collected statements from persons who witnessed the shooting of the men, with the aim of submitting these to international agencies. While collecting statements, Hughes said a male resident showed them a 7.62 spent shell and he advised the man to take it to the Wismar Police Station and hand it over. The lawyer said he accompanied the resident to the station, where he gave the police a statement and handed the shell over.
Meanwhile, residents continued with protest action yesterday, erecting large blocks along the major roads in the town using lumber, tyres, and old vehicles, among other thing. Most of the blocks which were erected with tyres were set on fire.
Police have not been effective in their efforts to clear the blocks from the road way. Persons entering or leaving Linden had to walk miles to their destinations as transportation in the town was limited. Due to the inaccessibility of the Wisroc Water Treatment plant, the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) advised residents yesterday that it was forced to reschedule the distribution of water, with Blue Berry Hill and D’Anjou Hill being serviced from midday to 6pm, and One Mile and Canvas City from 6am to midday.
While directing anger at police, the protestors voiced praise for the conduct of members of the military, who were part of the Joint Services deployment to the town after Wednesday’s shooting. They did, however, make exceptions for some police officers who are stationed in Linden, especially Police Sergeant Ronatha Liverpool. “We does give praise where it is due and that officer has been very professional. There are a few others but we don’t know their names but they are usually stationed here and they understand how to deal with people here,” said one resident, whose endorsement was echoed by several others.
