Following chaos in Linden this morning and a spate of arson, the Joint Services this afternoon denied that it had mounted an early morning operation to clear barriers in Wismar and other parts of Linden.
It said that around 2.20 am today protesters had raised a false alarm that the Joint Service were on their way to sweep away the barriers.
A statement from the Joint Services Coordinating Council said that this led to around 30 protesters storming past a standing patrol on the western end of the Wismar bridge and lighting a fire at the centre.
The statement said that the patrol summoned the police and the fire service and the former cleared away the protestors by using tear gas while the latter put out the blaze.
It said that by this time more residents came out and the situation deteriorated.
Lindeners have been in a heated standoff with the government and the Joint Services since July 18, 2012 over the killing of three protesters by the police. See other story below.
The statement follows:
“The Joint Services Coordinating Council wishes to categorically state that there was no Joint Services operation to clear barriers in the early morning hours of Friday 2012-08-10 at the western end of the Wismar bridge. In fact at approx 0220 hours on Friday 2012-08-10, protestors raised an alarm that the Joint Services were on their way to clear barriers. That was not the case at all. As a result, protestors and supporters numbering thirty, including women, stormed past the Joint Services Standing Patrol on the western end of the bridge and lit the bridge afire at the center. The Joint Services Standing Patrol summoned the Police and the Fire Service. The Police cleared the protestors using tear smoke and the Fire Service put out the fire. By the time the fire was out, more residents came out of their homes and the situation deteriorated. The Joint Services did not escalate the situation at Linden.”
Meanwhile, the police said that several buildings were burnt in the unrest that followed and that law enforcers have arrested six persons over various infractions.
The police statement follows:
“At about 0210h. today Friday August 10, 2012, ranks of the Joint Services observed that a fire with the use of tyres, wood and other combustible materials was set on the wooden portion at the Wismar end of the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge.
A crowd of persons had gathered at the location of the fire and in efforts to have them remove in order that the Guyana Fire Service personnel can extinguish the blaze, the police were forced to resort to the use of tear smoke.
The crowd was dispersed and the fire extinguished. The Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge is still in use and the Joint Services are maintaining security.
Later, at about 0700h. today, another crowd of persons came across the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge from the Wismar end with the apparent intention of immobilizing a front-end-loader that was parked in the vicinity of the bridge on the Mackenzie side. Persons placed themselves on the roadway in front of the machine, but were eventually removed and the equipment was removed to another location.
While the police ranks were dealing with the persons around the front-end-loader, it is suspected that other persons from the crowd set a fire which resulted in the destruction of the toll booth and the LINMINE Security guard hut located at the Mackenzie end of the bridge.
Fires caused by suspected acts of arson have today destroyed a number of buildings in the Linden community. These are the Linden Salvation Council building and the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Church at Silvertown, Wismar; and buildings at Washer Pond Road, Mackenzie, that housed the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Office, the Linden Care Foundation Office, the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education, a canteen, and the Linden Electricity Company Office. Another building behind the office complex was also burnt.
Efforts by the Guyana Fire Service personnel to get to the scene of the fire at the office complex were hampered by obstacles blocking the roadways and which also caused the destruction of the wheels of one of the fire-trucks.
Six men have been arrested by the police pending investigations into various offences and are in police custody.”
