Last week, demonstrators were on the streets of the major cities of Spain in their hundreds of thousands. On Thursday evening, protestors in central Madrid blocked traffic in several avenues and punctured tyres on police riot vans. As the evening wore on some demonstrators became more violent, hurling missiles, confronting the police and setting rubbish bins alight, among other things. The police in full riot gear responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. There were a few arrests and according to news reports, six injuries. No one was killed. On Wednesday last week, a few thousand demonstrators marched in Linden, with perhaps around two to four thousand or so congregated in the area on and around the Wismar-Mackenzie bridge. They were entirely peaceful and there was no violence. The police, equipped for battle, responded with tear gas, pellets and live ammunition. They shot three people dead and injured at least twenty. Something is fundamentally wrong.
Eyewitnesses told this newspaper that the police who fired the live rounds were about a dozen or fifteen members of the special squad, or what they called the “black clothes” police. If so, they seem to be walking in the footsteps of their namesakes who were disbanded, and clearly those who direct them have drawn no lessons from that dissolution. Neither, it seems, has the government. All non-police witnesses to the events confirmed that the hurling of bricks started after this small group of policemen began shooting and while according to Member of Parliament Renis Morian they held up a poster, in the fading light of 6.30 pm, it was difficult to read. At an earlier stage we were told, the riot squad had been to the bridge with a bullhorn, and had requested that the demonstrators move, but no one took any notice of them and they went away. The point is that everything remained peaceful until the special squad put in an appearance. In an immediate causal sense, therefore, the fires and violence which occurred on Friday can be laid in the first instance at their door.
It might be added that even if, for the sake of argument, missiles had been thrown at the police before they started shooting, under no circumstances would it have justified the use of live bullets and the killing of three people.
If the police didn’t recognize they had done enough damage, they then added insult to injury with their initial press release stating that they responded after missiles were thrown at them – an unqualified misrepresentation of the truth. That they were unable at that stage either to give any figures on casualties, although almost the whole of the rest of Guyana knew that people had been killed, says nothing for their competence, let alone their credibility. As it is their inept dissembling has now made them look worse than ever, and has incensed the hundreds of witnesses on the scene, Lindeners in general, and by extension many people in the country as a whole.
The problem for the government is that this situation has transformed itself from a stand-off on an electricity rate hike, to a full-blown crisis. And they have only themselves to blame. They had ample warning that a five-day protest was planned, so what preparations did they make to deal with it? What discussions did the Minister of Home Affairs have with the Commissioner (ag) of Police about how these should be handled? After the shootings, Minister Rohee was quick to dissociate himself from police actions, saying that the operation was entirely in the hands of the police. Considering that after the killings he wasted no time in announcing that he had directed Commissioner (ag) Brummell to make immediate changes at the “Command level” of E&F Division, under which Linden falls, one can only wonder why he did not involve himself beforehand in the discussions about what measures should be taken in dealing with a very sensitive situation.
Given all the fall-out from the Guyana Chronicle editorial, among other things, the blogosphere and unofficial pundits soon developed the thesis that what happened in Linden was all part and parcel of a long-term strategy by the PPP in relation to the next general election. The thesis was prevalent enough for the police to issue a denial that they had received any directive from any political personality or minister of government relative to the policing of the protests in Linden. Since they are taking full responsibility for events, therefore, certain questions inevitably arise. Who, exactly, was responsible for the operational plan to deal with the protest? At what level of the Guyana Police Force was it devised, and at what level was it passed? Why were the police ostensibly ill equipped for a possible riot situation? Who was it who took the decision to arm the special squad with firearms, and when that was done, what precise instructions were given to the men about the circumstances under which they should be used? What instructions generally in relation to operational procedures were issued to all the ranks that day, and were these followed? Who was in charge on the ground at the time the shooting started, and did they give a specific order to shoot? If they did not, who was it that started shooting?
With present technology it is theoretically possible to recover spent shells from the dead and wounded and match them to weapons, thereby associating them with particular members of the squad. Having said that, however – and to repeat – what is critical is who gave the order, if anyone at all. Given all that has happened recently, including the shooting of peaceful protestors with pellets in Georgetown earlier this year, the Guyana Police Force has to be held to account this time, and where appropriate, prosecutions brought. Furthermore, after years of dealing with disturbances of one kind or another, the GPF’s techniques of crowd control and management of demonstrations have not improved, and given what happened on Wednesday, may even have deteriorated. They need some crash courses in that department, utilizing the appropriate equipment which the government has boasted over the years they acquired for the purpose. If necessary, they should bring someone in to teach the officers how it should be done.
From the incompetence of the Police Force we move to the incompetence of the government. In the first place, knowing that the electricity increase was being resisted across the board; and knowing that Linden is capable of great solidarity, if not militancy; and knowing that the leaders in this matter did not come from Sophia or any other Georgetown-based political organization but were local, they should have recognized the tariff increase would be resisted. As such, they should have announced a postponement, and a preparedness to discuss the issue with Linden representatives above all others, to see if there was any room for negotiation.
As it was, they did not do so, and now with the police shootings they are faced with a major problem which has the potential to escalate. Unfortunately, they do not appear as if they have any clear idea about how they should proceed. No member of government, for example, has shown their face at the Linden Hospital to speak to the wounded; it is something the President himself should have undertaken, but failing him, at least the Minister of Health. While President Ramotar has agreed to some kind of Commission of Inquiry, he has given till August 2 for its terms of reference. Surely he can’t be serious. This is not a time when the government should be dilly-dallying in the hopes that the whole issue will fizzle out, or at least the steam will go out of it so they can then operate as if it never happened. That won’t work on this occasion. If the administration wants to demonstrate its good faith, then it should be proceeding with a great deal more celerity than it appears disposed to do.
The President has also indicated that he would not be averse to discussing the matter of the power subsidy, although he would not be doing so in a context of violence. He is talking nonsense of course. In the first place it was the Police Force which started the violence, and in the second, the onus is on the government to initiate the moves which might defuse the situation. He should begin by doing what should have been done a long time ago, and announce a suspension of the tariff hike for the time being, and then communicate a preparedness to discuss the issues relating to it with the local Linden representatives and whoever else they would like to be present. The approach to the matter of the unlawful killings would partly depend on whether a credible commission of inquiry is set up, how quickly it is set up and what its findings are. There can be no cover-ups this time around, and appropriate action should follow the findings – if it is a bona fide exercise. What the administration should understand, however, is that force on its part will not solve the present problem; it will exacerbate it.
At his press conference on Friday, the President said “…I think good sense should prevail… the leaders within the country should be responsible.” Indeed. Especially those in government.