A Linden school which housed 830 primary students was burnt to the ground yesterday morning and around nine persons were injured by pellets later in the day as the police clashed with protesters during renewed attempts to clear blocked roads into the mining town which remains gripped by a near month-long protest over electricity tariffs.
The injured included two members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who were accidentally hit by police pellets in a melee that also saw tear gas being used against what police said were protesters who lobbed Molotov cocktails and other objects.
In a press release yesterday, the Joint Services Council said while its members were clearing blockages set up by protestors at the western end of the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge, along Burnham Drive, Half Mile, One Mile, Wisroc, and along a number of adjoining cross streets in the Wismar area, they were forced to resort to the use of tear smoke to disperse large unruly crowds of persons who were in the process of preventing them from removing obstacles.
“While clearing blockages along the roadways in the Wismar Old Housing Scheme and One Mile areas large crowds of persons confronted the Joint Services ranks and began throwing Molotov cocktails and missiles at them which included bricks, bottles and pieces of metal. The police resorted to the use of tear smoke grenades, some of which were picked up by the protestors and thrown back at the Joint Services ranks,” the lawmen said in the press release.
According to the release Molotov cocktails thrown by the protestors damaged one of the machines used by the Joint Services to clear the debris and one of the ranks’ uniform caught afire but was quickly put out.
“The police were forced to use shotgun pellets to disperse the very hostile crowds and so far reports indicate that three men have been injured,” the release said.
The injured were listed by the police as Ray Wills, 52 years, of Wismar Old Housing Scheme, who was injured to his right foot; Marlon Richardson, 19 years, of Victory Valley Hill, who was injured to his right foot; and Michael Wills, 24 years, of Wismar Old Housing Scheme, who was injured to his right thigh. They were taken to the Mackenzie Hospital by the Joint Services ranks where they were admitted for medical treatment. The 52-year old Wills was later transferred to the GPH.
Richardson told Stabroek News that he was standing in a yard when he was shot in the leg by a TSU officer who he can identify. “I was standing there and he looked straight in my face and shoot straight at me.”
Lambert Mitchell, 53 years of Silvertown was also nursing wounds to his legs after being shot by an officer whose name he also gave.
The release added that two soldiers were accidentally hit by pellets and suffered injuries to the face and the hand, respectively. They have received medical attention and have rejoined their unit at Linden.
In addition to the three persons listed as injured by the Joint Services, Stabroek News observed four other persons, including 40-year-old Cordel Belle and Gordon Robertson, who were also injured by pellets. Robertson said he sustained pellet injuries as he was running to safety.
At the Georgetown Hospi-tal last night, Christiansburg resident James Rutherford was being treated for pellets to his back.
The man’s sister, Judith Goppy told Stabroek News at the GPHC that her brother was walking home from a shop in the Wismar Housing Scheme when he felt a burning sensation to his back. She said the injury was close to his lungs.
She said that the man, who is a mechanic and a father of two, lives in the Christians-burg area but yesterday around 11 am he went across to the Wismar Housing Scheme to purchase some items from a shop in the area.
“He told us that he went to buy some things to cook and when he walking back to another relative house he feel something burning in he back”, his sister said.
She said that her brother was taken to the Linden Hospital where he was treated for the injury. She said that medical staff there noted that the injury was severe, since several pellets entered his back and were lodged in the vicinity of his lungs.
“You see if anything happen to my brother I going to go to the media and make sure everybody know that this situation is uncalled for because the government don’t have time with we as Linden people and now they shoot my brother“, the angry woman stated.
He was expected to undergo surgery last evening to remove the pellets.
Fire
Meanwhile, the Joint Services release said that investigations into the fire (see other story on page 10) so far have revealed that the security guard on duty at the school was approached by three men armed with cutlasses who threatened to kill her if she did not remove from the location or if she attempted to raise an alarm.
The guard left the compound after which the building was broken into, computers stolen and the school later set on fire.
The Guyana Fire Service fire tender could not get to the scene of the fire owing to the blockages that had been placed along the roadways by protestors.
Later in the day residents of the Linden community brought in and handed over two men to the police at the Wismar Police Station who they claimed were suspects in the attack on the One Mile Primary School. The two men are in police custody assisting with the investigations.
Earlier in the day acting Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell had told this newspaper that the men told the guard that they were part of a “struggle” before setting the building on fire. Brumell had said that one of the men was recognized as a man who usually sells candy and nuts in the mining town and is called ‘Candy man’ and he was taken into custody by the police.
‘Under siege’
Meantime, Member of Parliament and member of APNU, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine during a visit to Linden yesterday described it as a town “under siege”. This came after several persons reported to Roopnaraine that members of the Joint Services were going into their community and firing tear gas and pellets.
Stabroek News observed police and soldiers entering the yards and homes of some residents in Wismar and removing young men and many persons reported being affected by tear gas while in their homes. Others spoke about men being picked up by the police while on the streets.
Dr Roopnaraine told Stabroek News that the people are riled up and they have been provoked by oppressive police behaviour in the community where ranks are no longer clearing roads but are invading people’s homes and their yards and firing tear gas into houses and discharging pellets. . He said that people are provoked and fear that come nightfall more of this would unfold.
“This is a community under siege, it is under siege and I believe whoever is directing this operation has embarked on a very reckless course,” Roopnaraine commented.
He advised the Lindeners not to assist the police who are “intent on carrying out a violent operation” urging them not to give the police cause by provoking and instigating incidents.
“Remain calm and stay out of danger because in these incidents it is the innocent who get hurt,” he told the Lindeners.
Roopnaraine was also stopped from using his vehicle to cross the bridge linking Mackenzie and Wismar and he said when he enquired from police officers as to the reasons behind their actions he was told that that they were in an operation which was not completed and as a result are only allowing pedestrians and motorcycles to cross the bridge.
And Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon last evening in a brief comment told Stabroek News that residents have been experiencing difficulty in accessing their homes in Wismar and many were being stopped and searched by members of the Joint Services. He said many persons were injured by pellets while others have been arrested by the police.
“We want to bring this thing to end,” Solomon said when asked if there is an end in sight to what is happening in Linden.
He added that he should not be asked that question since people are still being shot while others are remaining mobilized and if the current actions by the Joint Services are intended to “to break the will of the people it is doing quite the opposite.”
On Friday, the Office of the President had called off negotiations to discuss the terms of reference for a commission of inquiry into the July 18 killings of the three protestors and a review of the electricity tariffs – the issue that triggered the first set of protest actions. He said when they were informed by a senior government functionary that the talks were off on Friday he specifically asked when they would meet again and the individual did not give a direct answer.
However, he said that they have always demonstrated a willingness to continue to engage.
Veranda
And a woman yesterday reported that her son was injured as he played with his siblings on the veranda of their home. The woman, Shelly, told this newspaper that she was in the house when her young son rushed in screaming and bleeding in the face and she was forced to take him to the hospital. At the hospital she was told that a pellet was lodged in the child’s forehead and could not be removed.
Another woman, Annazette Parew, told Stabroek News that she along with her two young children were standing at their doorway in the Wismar Housing Scheme when they saw police running into their neighbour’s yard and removing some persons. She said she decided to record what was happening when the police noticed and they in turn fired tear gas in their direction, injuring her 25-year-old nephew who is a member of the Guyana Defence Force. She said after her nephew was injured she took him to the police to show them his injury but instead of listening to her one police officer accosted him and cuffed him behind his neck before further assaulting him and throwing him into the back of their vehicle. Attempts by her nephew to show them his GDF identification badge were ignored and she was forced to approach a senior GDF officer before her nephew was released.
Another woman reported that her grandson was picked up from a wedding house on Saturday night and up to last evening she could not locate him.
Jocelyn Haywood also told Stabroek News about her son whom she had sent to his grandmother in Wismar and while returning he was reportedly knocked off his bicycle by the police, assaulted and placed in their vehicle where he spent hours in the sun. She said when she got the call that her son was in the lock-ups and she visited, her son told her he was just approached by the police and assaulted and then locked up.
“That could be fair?”the woman questioned.
And Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon engaged one of the senior ranks on the ground and she said she asked him why police were shooting tear gas into people’s homes and he said he was not aware of that.
Superintendent Errol Watts who was named as the officer who had allegedly issued instructions to fire on APNU protestors with rubber bullets last December, told Kissoon that they were in Linden on a mission to clear the streets so that people can get into the town.
“I think they are taking this overboard, I don’t know why we have such heavy force from the joint service and I do not understand why persons are being tear-gassed in their homes,” Kissoon said.
She said she knows about at least three children who were badly affected by the tear gas and many others were traumatized by sounds of gunshots being fired.
“We would really like to have an immediate suspension of this aggression and the only person can do that for us is the President himself,” Kissoon said.
Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge
It was shortly after 6 am yesterday that the Joint Services advanced to the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge to continue their clearing operation. At the time hundreds of residents were at the Wismar end of the bridge which was blocked with sandbags, lumber and a tree.
Without the use of a public address system the police advanced on the large crowd which stood its ground and resisted police efforts to remove the block. Police then resorted to tear gas and pellets which for more than an hour failed to disperse the crowd.
“We were not armed we were not doing them anything but they start shoot at we and we took it and refused to move because that was our rights”, said a woman who gave her name as Barbara.
As the effects of the tear gas grew unbearable the crowd ran for cover. A man who asked not to be named told SN that at the time he was at home in a squatting area opposite West Watooka. “We see wah was going on with innocent people rights being violated, and I lock up deh house with me mah wife and children but we weren’t safe in we own house.”
He added that protestors were nowhere close to his home “but all I realize that me house full up with tear gas. I get confused. De children started hollering and everybody blinded. It was confusing.” More tear gas was hurled at the family’s home as they rushed outside.
In tears the man said, “till now meh lil daughter aint talking, she just staring at we and every now and then she just crying.”
His story was not much different from that of persons living in Silvertown, Canvas City, One and Half Miles.
The TSU continued the shooting pattern in clearing Winifred Gaskin Highway, the road through the community, resulting in several persons sustaining injuries.
As SN passed through the back streets of Silvertown, members of the Joint Services were seen entering the yards and homes of residents. At one home children were running scared as a TSU officer armed with a gun entered a yard and kicked down the front door. “Ah glad y’all seeing for yourself look dem people deh peaceful in deh house and look how deh advantaging them”, yelled a neighbour.
With about four persons witnessing the drama, the TSU officer shouted at them, ordering them to leave the street and brandishing his gun. Upon noticing SN’s reporter attempting to take a photograph they quickly retreated. A soldier was standing at the rear of the family’s home. Along the way in secondary streets where there were no activities of blocking or street demonstrations, members of the joint services were seen entering yards.
At the Wismar Four Corner where there was a fiery blockade, the TSU challenged a large crowd which was insisting on maintaining their barrier. A number of persons suffered injuries caused by metal pellets.
SN observed the TSU sweeping the streets of the spent tear gas cans and shells and storing them in buckets. Two buckets full were seen collected in less than a two-hour span of shooting.
During the course of the past three days more that fifteen persons were arrested and taken into custody by the police. Among them are Kelvin Headly, Colwyn Croal, Glenroy Chapman, Horris Gorrick and Jason Braithwaithe, all for allegedly unlawfully breaching the peace. A man is being held for alleged burning of the Bridge and the buildings which belonged to the Linden Salvation Council.
