President Donald Ramotar yesterday said that he will not visit Linden unless the roadblocks have been cleared and that the ongoing protest action is doing more harm than good to the residents of the mining community.
“The Linden situation as far as I understand it, they are still blocking the road. It is very, very unfortunate. I have been asking the security forces to open the way and to ensure that people who have their business to do, go about their business,” he said moments after Caribbean Container Inc launched their ECO PAK line of biodegradable food containers.
Ramotar responding to Stabroek News’s questions on the Linden situation said that he is ready to go to Linden to meet with the residents and address their concerns, “but the roads must be open first.”
He said that it is the people of Linden who are suffering as a result of the current situation, and that “those who are responsible” are doing very great harm to the mining town because investments and resources are being affected.
“Linden has some unique advantages because of its geographical location but what is taking place today I rather suspect would do a lot of harm to Linden as a destination for investment,” he told this newspaper.
“Those who are organizing this are actually doing a lot of harm to the ordinary people of that society in the sense of having investment, creating employment, generating wealth and having a better life for the people there, he said.
Lindeners on July 18 had come out in their numbers for the start of a five-day protest over an increase in power tariffs, which took effect July 1. By the end of the first day, Ron Somerset, Allan Lewis and Selwyn Bouyea were dead and at least 20 others were injured after police opened fire on protestors near the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge. Police have said that they had to resort to using tear gas and later fired shotgun cartridges at protestors, after missiles were hurled at them—an account challenged by some of the injured and others present at the protest.
A Trinidad-based pathologist did witness the post mortems on the three men who were killed, and there have also been several calls particularly from the Alliance For Change (AFC) for an international ballistics expert to be flown to Guyana to observe ballistic tests on the fragments recovered from the bodies.
Since then the protest action has increased with the blocking of all main roads in and out of Linden. The demands by Lindeners include the total withdrawal of the plan for phased tariff hikes for power, compensation for the survivors of those killed and the injured in the July 18 shooting, the laying of murder charges against the police allegedly involved in the deaths and improved economic and investment conditions for Region 10.
Two Fridays ago, Ramotar announced his intention to visit Linden to meet the residents and civic stakeholders from the community, while instructing that members of the Joint Services remove all barricades blocking the roads and bridges in order to allow unfettered access through the town.
A press statement from Office of the President (OP) had said that Regional Chairman Solomon was expected to cooperate with the security forces in removing all obstructions on the roads and bridges. In the release, Ramotar emphasized that all Guyanese have the right to protest and represent their issues and concerns in a peaceful and law-abiding manner, but his administration would not tolerate the blockage of roads and bridges leading into and through any community.
Army and police ranks were able to regain control of the Kara Kara Bridge, which residents had blocked with huge logs, but they were unable to prevent blockages on both sides of the road leading into and out of the community. With the heads of the Joint Services indicating the difficulty of controlling protesters obstructing the Kara Kara Bridge, Ramotar, postponed his visit. “The Office of the President expresses regret at the cancellation of the planned visit, particularly to those stakeholders who had assembled at Watooka House for the planned public meeting and consultations with the President and his delegation,” a statement said.
Since then there has been no further word on how the president intends to deal with the situation.
At the moment meetings are being held at the Office of the President with opposition members and members of the Region Ten administration to find ways to address the concerns of the Lindeners and bring an end to the unrest.
The last meeting – last Friday – was rescheduled. When contacted Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon told this newspaper OP informed him of the cancellation but did not give a reason. Asked what was the next scheduled date, he said would only say that it would be some time before Tuesday.
