Residents of Linden ended their sixth day of protest yesterday as resolutely as they began, with the town all but cut off from the rest of the country; though some vehicles were leaving and arriving. Banks, stores, arcade, market and wharf shops and stalls remained closed, while some shop owners were observed making small sales but not opening their main doors. (See other story on this page.)
“We in this, but we have to keep ourselves fed. Right now it’s not so much about the money or the goods not spoiling, it’s about feeding our people in the struggle,” said Julius Brown a small grocery shop owner.
A number of vendors who sell on the Mackenzie Wharf were seen shipping in large quantities of ground provision, vegetables and fruits. During the morning those vendors stalls were closed, by mid-afternoon at least four were seen open, but not for long.
The cry for food throughout the community was loud yesterday despite clear indications that the residents are prepared to hold out with the protest. “Right now we walking the miles to Bamia and wherever we have to, to collect foodstuff. People sending it from GT,” said Emily Stanton-Bruce. The woman at the time was trekking down the Amelia’s Ward main road with several other women to collect rations taken to the closest road block.
A fire was once again set on the wooden decking of the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge some time during the course of the early morning hours of yesterday. No would could say who started the fire, why, when or who put out the blaze. A look at the area seemed to indicate that the blaze was large and was set using tyres.
The large crowd which had been spending late hours at the Wismar end of the bridge was not there as usual last night. Most persons retreated to their homes, while those who took on the responsibility of protecting the nearby road blocks, spent had erected camps at the sites. There were at least two TSU ranks at the Mackenzie end of the bridge and soldiers were on the other end.
The camps were set up by the residents because the TSU would usually remove the barricades when the crowd was depleted.
Power supply returned to Mackenzie in the early morning hours of yesterday after the power generating plant of Bosai had developed technical problems plunging the entire town into darkness for hours. All day it remained on and went out again at 7.56 pm. Within four minutes it was on and off again, and within a two minutes span it dipped thrice. The same thing had happened on Sunday night. The cause this time was unknown as efforts to contact the company’s officials proved futile. Wismar remained without power.
“This is the worst in the history of this country,” Mazlin Bethune said, as she headed to one of the road blocks at Wismar. “Six days a whole town shut down and not a single government official ain’t come here,“ she added.
“Eye pass can’t don we on day 6 of our struggle and not a word from the president… We need justice,“ said Candika Williams an educator.
Meanwhile, it was observed that the exodus of people from the town was high.
Exploiting
A large number accounted for persons who work outside the town and those coming from interior locations.
Travel between Linden and Georgetown was being facilitated by buses and cars operating about 200 metres from the Millie’s Hideout on the highway. The average fare applied for this service was $1,500, up from the usual $900 but there were reports of some drivers charging as much as $3,000.
There were shuttles between several of the road blocks on both banks of the Mackenzie/Wismar bridge at prices ranging between $300 and $1,000 per person.
“There are some drivers who are exploiting our own. This is our struggle and we condemn such an act. We will not support such a thing. This is a struggle for the benefit of all the residents here,” said Norris King, a resident who has been physically supporting the protest at the Kara Kara bridge. He, along with others who were adamant about not having their names mentioned, has been coordinating the activities at the road/bridge block to ensure that order is maintained.
King also took the opportunity to express gratitude on behalf of residents, to persons around the country and further afield for their solidarity with the Linden struggle. “We gather strength from your support,” he said. “We are overwhelmingly happy that you feel our pain and are carrying the burden equally with us. At the end of it all, the victory will not only be Linden’s but the rest of Guyana and even our brothers and sisters around the world,“ said King.
Vigils have been held by Guyanese in New York outside the United Nations Building as well as in Brooklyn. Red Thread, the combined opposition, civil society and members of the public last night held a candlelight vigil outside State House on Main Street. According to Freddie Kissoon, the vigil will continue every night. He explained that it started last Saturday night with 35 persons outside Parliament. On Sunday night about 70 persons attended the vigil which was again held outside Parliament. Last evening about 30 persons were in attendance and as they held their candles they sang hymns.
Red Thread also held a ‘support action’ outside the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday morning.
Only a few entities saw a number of staff members turning out, those included LECI, the LHC administration, and Bosai bauxite plant.
The police had to be called in at the site of the remains of the Linmine Secretariat as persons were breaking the cordon tape and searching through the rubble for useful items including copper and scrap iron. Assistant Commissioner Gavin Primo responded along with others and managed to chase them away. However a few persons continued to sneak pass the cordon after the police ranks had left.
Beaten and robbed
Meanwhile, a 60-year-old Frenchman was found in a semi-conscious state along the Amelia’s Ward road and was taken to the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) where he was admitted a patient. He alleged that he was beaten and robbed by policemen.
The man, who gave his name as Yasula Mokem Ackunita and said he was called ‘Jukka’ told Stabroek News that he hails from French Guiana but came to Guyana from the USA two weeks ago. The man, who struggled to speak in a strange accent, said he was trapped by the block roads and bridge after coming from an interior location. “Decide to walk and was resting where I thought was safe,” he said adding that he was hoping to catch the first transportation leaving the last block along the Amelia’s Ward main road.
“I was at the bus shed when a vehicle of police pull up and grab me and start beating me. They wanted to kill me, man, they wanted to kill me,” he alleged while crying from his hospital bed.
He said the men took away all his possessions, which included a backpack containing clothing, personal documents including his passport, a quantity of gold, cash and the sneakers he was wearing.
The man said that at first he put up a fight but realized that he was overpowered and outnumbered.
He provided a US number to contact a friend in the USA.
It was not clear who discovered the man but when Stabroek News arrived at the Kara Kara Bridge just after 6 am a group of men asked for assistance to take the man to the LHC.
It was during the afternoon when this newspaper visited the LHC to check on him that he struggled to tell his story. According to hospital records he sustained a broken left hand, deep laceration to the neck close to the ear caused by a sharp object, trauma to the head, shoulder, left upper extremity and both knees.
The Linden protest, which started on July 18 with a five-day time span, had as its focus, the hike in electricity tariffs. However, it has now morphed into one that encompasses other issues including the fatal shooting of Ron Somerset, 18; Shemroy Bouyea and Allan Lewis, 46 by police on Wednesday evening. It is set to continue indefinitely.
