President Irfaan Ali has said that the government has commenced compensating the Mon Repos Market vendors who were looted, assaulted and had their property destroyed during Tuesday’s protest calling for justice for 23-year-old Quindon Bacchus.
Bacchus, a father of one, was killed during an alleged shootout with the GPF on June 10 at the Haslington New Scheme, ECD. He was allegedly the subject of a police sting operation which went awry.
The protest started at Golden Grove and mushroomed down the East Coast corridor, on Tuesday, where it became fiery and violent. The protestors blocked off the road in several villages and lit debris to prevent the movement of traffic. Mon Repos was the last village they entered and the situation turned violent.
Several vendors were beaten, robbed and had their property destroyed by some of the protesters. Ali had met with them on Tuesday afternoon where he promised full compensation.
Last night, he told reporters that the government has commenced the process.
“We have started [to assess the damage suffered by some of the vendors] and we have even started to give some compensation because a lot of the people had to go back to [their] livelihood because they don’t have any capital to get back to their livelihoods [we started compensating them]”, Ali said.
He said that it is an ongoing exercise and the government is committed to ensuring that every aggrieved vendor is compensated. When asked about where the money is coming from and what is the estimated cost of the total compensation package, Ali said that the answer will be provided at the end of the process.
Collectively, the vendors there said that the Guyana Police Force had no intention of offering any assistance or bringing any calm to the situation on Tuesday. They reported that when the Police saw the protesters making their way to the market area, they retreated. Ali, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn and Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken have all failed to offer any explanation as to how the Police allowed the protest to descend into chaos.
Last night, when asked about this again, Ali said that the Police were on the ground and they responded based on intelligence. Ali, who is also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, did not acknowledge the glaring gaps in the Joint Services’ approach and response to violence and looting.
“The police were on the ground and I am not making any excuse for the Police [but] the police worked based on intelligence they had, they worked based on information they had. The police designed their approach to any situation based on intelligence and based on information they have.
“Let us think if the police were in advance of the crowd and action was taken in a different direction, some would have used it against the police. I went [to the communities] against all advice on the ground. I went because I understand the anger, I understand the sentiments on the ground and as the leader of this country whether they had to take the anger out somewhere, I was willing to be that person. I was willing to be an object on the ground because I didn’t know what to expect on the ground but that is what leadership is,” Ali related.
He said that the police would have to give an explanation for their failure to get the situation under control.
