Following two incidents where roads were blocked and debris burnt by residents, Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken has issued a warning against such acts.
According to a police press release, Hicken “is appealing to members of the public to desist from unlawful acts such as blocking the roads, burning tyres and disrupting traffic flow while simultaneously intimidating and robbing commuters and the travelling public.”
Hicken said that such behaviour is unlawful and will not be tolerated and persons who are held accountable will face “the full brunt of the law.” He warned that the force will have a “zero-tolerance approach” to ensure that the laws are abided by throughout the country.
On February 1st , hundreds of residents from the village of Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) took to the main road as well as the embankment where they set fire to a truck and burnt tyres and other materials to protest the arrest of a man by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) earlier in the day.
CANU had said that the accused, 25-year-old Odearie Phillips of Vigilance, ECD, was arrested after they intercepted him with 23.2 kilograms of cannabis with an approximate street value of $7 Million GYD in his car. As they tried taking him away, members of the public became hostile and started to assault CANU ranks and attempted to pull Phillips out of a CANU vehicle which led to shots being fired in the air. Residents began to block roads and burned debris which resulted in traffic being disrupted from about 11 am to 5 pm.
Meanwhile, on Sunday at about 7:45pm, residents of Hopetown, West Coast Berbice set ablaze a Mazda RX8 car on the main Hopetown Public Road after the vehicle, driven by a prominent businessman’s son of Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice, struck down two persons on electric scooters on the said road causing them to suffer serious injuries. One of the injured persons was admitted at the Fort Wellington Hospital while the other was admitted at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Additionally, the businessman’s son and another occupant of the motorcar were also assaulted and had to be taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital. The driver has since been placed in custody.
