Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority, retired justice Cecil Kennard says that as long as the police are involved in a shooting his office should investigate.
He was on Friday responding to a question from Stabroek News on whether his office would investigate the fatal shooting of three Linden protesters on Wednesday evening. Kennard said that as long as it is deaths caused by the police, his office would have to be involved. He said that the report done by the police ought to be submitted to his office and “at some stage I should be involved.” However, he noted that he cannot do anything unless he has a completed file with all the relevant statements. 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 on Wednesday evening. Police have said that they opened fire after missiles were hurled at them but protestors and others have disputed this account. Residents were protesting the increase in electricity tariffs.
Meanwhile, all traffic to interior locations that have to pass through Linden remains at a standstill. Operators at several bus services that ply the Georgetown-Lethem route and Georgetown-Mahdia route told Stabroek News that their service is at a halt since they cannot pass Linden because of the situation there. They said that since Wednesday they could not pass.
Some have transferred passengers from one bus to another but there are several blockages at various points in the community. On Friday, one popular Georgetown-Linden minibus service operator said that they had three busloads of passengers waiting to travel to Lethem and there were two stranded outside of Linden. One driver recounted his encounter with some of the protestors when he attempted to pass. “When we pass dem, them man start running towards we. They had shovel and cutlasses,” he said. According to the driver, the men warned them not to remove any of the blockages to pass. The operators said that some passengers opted to travel by plane but the flights are all booked even though some airlines put on extra flights. The operator on Church Street said that usually two buses per night leave his service for Lethem but since the protest, none travelled. The situation was the same at the other bus services that go to Lethem. Overall, at least six buses leave the city for Lethem nightly ferrying many Guyanese and Brazilians. Meantime, the buses that travel to Mahdia in Region Seven are also at a standstill. The operators, particularly the ones that ply the Georgetown-Lethem route, said that government should look at alternative routes so that travel is not halted should there be a disturbance again at Linden.
