The mugshots of eighteen of the twenty protesters who were arrested on Monday after they allegedly attempted to block the Canje Turn with wooden poles and structures to stop the free flow of traffic were taken shirtless and then released by the Commander of Region Six, Shivpersaud Bacchus to the media in Berbice.
Roopnarine Sukhu, 45, of Susannah Village; Fizal Kowlessar, 29, of Canefield; Satish Sanichar, 43, of Betsy Ground Village; Mohan Premchand, 40, of Betsy Ground Village; Keeron Bissondyal, 35, of Betsy Ground Village; Boojnarine Ramkisson; Doman Jagnarine, 55, of Canefield; Narinedatt Khemraj, 55, of Canefield; Waqueer Baksh, 30, of Reliance Village; Kemraj Balkarran, 27, of Canefield; Shawn Best, 30, of Adelphi Village; Joseph McPherson, 48, Goed Bananen Land; Raton Singh, 24, of Goed Bananen Land; George Southwell, 32, of Betsy Ground; Totaram Sanichar, 47, of Betsy Ground; Lance Boswin, 34, of Betsy Ground; Marlon Durant, 50, of Adelphi Village; Kippie Denis, 40, of Stanleytown; Satesh Jagnarine, 50, of Canefield and Nigel Ghangadin, 27, of Betsy Ground Village, all on Tuesday appeared before Magistrate Renita Singh at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court where they were charged with obstructing the free flow of traffic, damage to property, unlawful assembly, and an act of terrorism.
The men were each placed on a total of $60,000 bail and will return to court on October 16.
Hours after the court case, Commander Bacchus released the men’s pictures – eighteen of whom were shirtless in the mugshots. Immediately questioned by Stabroek News was to why the men’s pictures were taken without their shirts, Bacchus said, “It’s called profiling.” It is unclear what was meant by profiling.
Additionally, the names of the men were inaccurate on some of pictures released leaving the impression that the matter was being handled haphazardly with a rush to release the images.
However, notably, two of the men were not photographed shirtless. According to information gathered, those two men are connected to a regional court clerk thus raising the question as to whether some suspects were subject to variations of “profiling” when placed into police custody.
Meanwhile, several of the men who were charged were contacted yesterday and expressed fear about going on record. However, according to some of the men they requested to put on back their shirts before the mugshots were taken but police officers present refused this request without any reason given.
The men said that they felt embarrassed seeing the pictures later released in the media – as they strongly contended that they were protesting for a cause they believe in, and the matter quickly escalated.
When their union GAWU was contacted yesterday for a comment on the photographs an official stated, “The GAWU at this time is not aware of the police procedures and bearing in mind the matter is before the court it would not be proper to offer a comment.”
