In what has been described as the indiscriminate shooting of pellets by the Guyana Police Force at Golden Grove on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) last evening, Stabroek News Assistant Editor Samantha Alleyne was among a number of civilians wounded when the police opened fire and used tear gas.
Her 10-year-old son sustained an injury and was left deeply traumatized.
Alleyne and her son were at the time walking back towards their vehicle, after seeing her sister off in a car at Nabaclis.
“We had to park the car and walk. We were walking back to the car when a heavy rain came and we ran into a shop. After it eased we started [walking] again, but all I heard was a hail of like POW, POW, and POW! [It was] Gunshots! People started screaming and running all over and I felt a sting in my back and I panicked, grabbed [son’s name] and said, ‘run!’” a traumatized Alleyne related to the Stabroek News.
“We ran to the shop and I was screaming that I was shot because I didn’t know it was pellets but the shooting won’t stop. I said I would die but knew I couldn’t. We couldn’t hide there so we had to continue running, and I held my son’s hand told him to jump over this gutter so we could go into another place. All of this was happening and the shooting just continued…,” she added.
Up to press time and following a number of queries to the police about the shooting, there had been no response.
Police Public Relations Officer Mark Ramotar told the Stabroek News, when contacted, that except for an earlier release that told of a police officer who was injured, also at Golden Grove, he had no other information.
Following protests and looting along both ECD carriageways yesterday, the main roadway was blocked with debris between Haslington to the East and Nabaclis to the West. Persons coming to city would have had to exit their transportation at Nabaclis, walk to Haslington, and take transport from there onwards.
And on the opposite side, if persons were heading further west than the roadblock, they would have to exit at Haslington and walk to Nabaclis.
Alleyne had successfully seen her sister into a car and was making her way back to her vehicle to head home to Enmore.
She said that the main barricade put up by persons was at Golden Grove market and when she was passing the area some women were sitting on a sheet as persons were overhead saying that they received word that the police said they had to disperse. Others were adamant that they should not move as they felt it would defeat the purpose of their protests.
Police had lined both sides of the road and were standing with riot shields, some talking among themselves.
Alleyne said she does not know what changed after the heavy deluge.
“If we were behind the shop that we had gone to shelter we would be in the way of fire. I can’t tell you what happened but the shooting started. Other people were hit and some people fell, because I know I jumped over a man but I couldn’t stop. I jumped a fence and my child jumped behind me. I don’t know exactly how we got over but we scaled it and the firing still continued. They came through the street, we ran and all,” an emotional Alleyne recounted.
“My son asked me if we are going to die and that broke me and I started hollering that I don’t want to die here. I begged God to have mercy on me and my child. I remember someone saying ‘Samantha’ and I knew it was a church member but that was it.” She said that persons took them to an area, offering assistance and she sat weeping but could not do much more.
It was then that she was able to call her husband. And being a journalist, he was let through the barricades by police and she was able to get home, too scared to go to the hospital to seek medical help.
Alleyne said that as they were making their way to her husband’s vehicle, she recalls some policemen expressing apologies. “The police were telling us ‘we are so sorry.’ I could barely walk but they were telling us sorry.”
In a statement at around 9:10pm, police said: “A police rank was injured today during the confrontation between members of the Joint Services and violent protestors at Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara. The rank is currently seeking medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital.”
“The injured rank, along with other members of the Joint Services were at the time trying to clear the ECD roadway that the protestors blocked during a day of confrontation where they lit fires, used threatening language and blocked the roadway at several points,” it added.
