It is the view of some vendors occupying the canopy section of the Stabroek Market that the rifle reportedly discovered there Wednesday night was planted to discredit them in a plot to remove them from that location.
But the City Constabulary has denied this with a spokesperson indicating that Chief Constable Andrew Foo had only said he would recommend a ban on vending there and that this was not a given as it would need to be reviewed.
However, the vendors claimed that the discovery is too similar to what occurred in 2011, when a bomb explosion led to vendors operating on the perimeter of the Stabroek Market bus park being relocated.
“The last time, when they wanted to move the vendors that were selling over there, they used a strategy that they find a bomb. Now, from my understanding, here now, they’re claiming that they will have to replace the vendors them that is under the canopy because they find a rifle. Is this the strategy that council will be using all the time to get rid of vendors round the Stabroek Market?” vendor Charmaine Dowding asked rhetorically.
“I believe is a set up,” Harold Sampson said. “I believe is a total set up cause I know how long they want to remove people that selling under here…What I am saying is that they have ulterior motives, ’cause as soon as this incident occur, they calling fuh remove the vendors from here.”
Their opinions, like those of other stallholders who vented their anger yesterday, are shared by President of the Market Vendors Union Eon Andrews, who told this publication, “It is the view of the vendors here—and I am inclined to agree with them—that all of a sudden things will be staged so that people can do certain actions out here. And I hope it doesn’t have any serious repercussions down the line.”
Andrews opined, “Whenever the council intends to do something untoward or extraordinary, they create scenarios.”
He recalled that on the night the gun was discovered, he was at the market and saw the city police run by. However, he could not recall seeing the suspect they were alleged to have been chasing. “They were running some apparent shadow, cause I don’t know who they were running, I didn’t see them running anybody. But all I saw were about 10 constables. And you know, it’s very strange that 10 constables running this one man and this man run away,” he stated.
Shoe vendor Siglet Small also questioned how the “young man disappear in thin air,” while stating that any calls to remove the vendors have to be taken seriously given that council had followed through on removing some vendors from the pavements a few months ago.
The vendors yesterday were seething, and their anger was the direct result of news reports published yesterday quoting the Chief Constable as proposing that vending be banned under the Stabroek Market clock. Foo had stated that the area beneath the clock is “perceived to be a criminal hotspot” and “a haven for criminals who are involved in the selling of narcotics and other unsavoury nocturnal activities.”
Pamela Anderson, who has been vending in excess of 30 years, was racked with anger and near tears when she took a seat in front of a stall yesterday to vent her rage.
“They seh the meeting call to order, then they discuss about what they got in mind– that we must put ourself in a orderly manner, comply with them and then complain and all of that. Then, today when I read the paper, this is what I see—vendors to be removed under the canopy of the market. We had no discussion about this!” Anderson was pointing to a copy of yesterday’s Guyana Chronicle, which featured an article, headlined ‘Vendors under Stabroek Market canopy to be removed—area a haven for criminal activities.’
“When the PPP do we all sorta thing we used to protest, and we gon protest to this because we voted for a better life, not for this. This ain’t better, this worse!” she said.
“Is like if ya vote for poverty,” another vendor chimed in.
Superintendent Gordon Langevine, in a sit-down yesterday, pointed out that Foo had simply made a recommendation.
“The market now is being taken over by gangs in the night because they use the market now as a shelter,” Langevine stated.
He revealed that there have been numerous reports of members of the Hot Skull gang convening in the area, while noting that most robberies and illegal dealings take place in the region just under the clock, heading northwards. According to Langevine, some of these individuals are said to carry firearms in their backpacks and pretend to be cigarette vendors.
The Superintendent related that when the suspect was sighted on Wednesday night, they were in the middle of a sting operation. While he admitted that there is the possibility that individuals might be tipped off when such operations are about to occur, he said that the only thing to do in such a situation is to adjust tactics and promised that these activities would be “spontaneous, swift and maintained.”
In an aim to bring some clarity to the situation, Langevine, who bears responsibility for the Stabroek Market area, led a tour of the location where the gun was found.
He had related that at the meeting held with the vendors on Thursday, they had been asked not to leave their goods packed on top of their stalls as this impedes the vision of the city constables into the market when they carry out checks. Instead, they had been advised to place their goods in the cupboards built into the stalls, a suggestion, he said, some find issue with as they are forced to unpack every morning. He said that perhaps only half of the vendors adhere to this rule.
During the tour, Langevine demonstrated how the pallets packed atop the stands could hinder the vision of any individual below a certain height. He pointed out the stall, some feet above eye level near one of the market gates, where he reportedly spotted the suspect before the city police gave chase.
Meanwhile, vendors questioned how they were to be laden with the burden of the security of the market and “paying the penalty” for an issue that is the responsibility of law enforcement.
“We are not there when the elements are here, we sell during the day. When we leave, we are not responsible, they are responsible for what happens out here,” said shoe vendor, Judy Deonarine.
