By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
April 7, 2001
The unrest which rocked the East Coast Demerara in the aftermath of
the March 19 elections made residents of Enterprise and Annandale
North feel captive in their own villages.
Persons unknown in Annandale North, a predominantly Indo-Guyanese
community have since blocked the road link between the neighbouring
community of Buxton by creating fences at the head of the streets
which were connected by bridges to the Buxton Sideline Dam.
Stabroek News could not ascertain from villagers who
put up the fence which stopped Buxtonians from accessing the Annandale
Market through the sideline dam and trenches. The fences were erected
after the March 22 eruption of clashes between villagers on the East
Coast and the police. Fires were set along a large stretch of the East
Coast, the police stoned and traffic disrupted. The clashes came after
Buxtonians beat up two elections workers who had gone into the village
to retrieve polling material on the instruction of a Deputy Returning
Officer. The police turned up to rescue the workers who had been
beaten. After rescuing the workers the police returned to the village
and this led to the clashes.
When Stabroek News visited the Sideline Dam on
Wednesday afternoon four fences stood erect barring passage. When this
newspaper visited the area on Thursday, one fence had already been
removed. Gateways were cut into two of the other fences to allow for
some amount of movement. Boards and planks which had been used to
bridge the two villages were also removed and Stabroek News
observed some young people gingerly crossing one of the planks.
Residents were not willing to comment on the erection of the fences
but one who did not want to go on record said that the fence was
erected by members of the community policing group in the area to keep
the Buxtonians from running through the village during the unrest and
attacking them.
Rajendra Persaud, Vice-Chairman of the La Bonne Intention/Better Hope
Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) under which the Annandale
community falls told Stabroek News that the NDC did
not tell anyone to block the thoroughfare nor to remove bridges or
planks that connected the two communities.
He assumed that there were groups of people in the community who did
it for their own safety as they might have felt endangered. Some may
have recalled problems of race they experienced among themselves in
the sixties, he added.
Noting that the NDC had not visited the area, he said that he rather
suspects that the bridges would be replaced and the fence removed when
the people feel more secure. He said that the NDC would not tell the
residents to remove the fences as it would feel responsible should
anything untoward happens. However, he said that as far as he knows
the people of Annandale and Buxton are friends. It is just that they
have political differences but give them another few weeks and things
would be back to normal.
Residents of Enterprise said that they felt trapped in their village
because of the blockade which was put up at Bachelor's Adventure and
at the junction of the Enterprise Road and the Railway Embankment
Road. Vehicles could not enter the community nor could they leave
while the blockade was in effect. In addition people were just plain
scared to venture beyond the boundaries of the village. Enterprise is
about one mile south of the East Coast Public Road.
A number of Indo-Guyanese of Lusignan, Strathspey and Non Pariel and
employees of Coldingen told Stabroek News during this newspaper's
visit to the area that throughout the unrest they were never
threatened though in some instances they were afraid.
A businessman said that on March 22, when the fracas between the
police and the residents of Buxton broke out early in the afternoon,
he was stranded at Strathspey. He does not live in the area but does
business there. He said that after he learnt of the problem he tried
to make it to the city but the mini-bus in which he was travelling
waited for a while but had to turn back after it could not pass
through Buxton. He was not able to go through till after 6:00 pm that
day. He said he never felt threatened because of his ethnicity but was
afraid because he had a lot of money on him, most of which, was not
his.
Most residents in the surrounding communities said that they stayed
indoors because they felt safe in their homes. They were not taking
chances.
Workers from both sides of the divide were affected. Relatives of
persons who worked at the Enmore Sugar Estate and the Coldingen
Industrial Estate said that their relatives were forced to walk as
much as five miles or even more to get from Buxton to their
destination.
A businesswoman recalled that workers from Enmore were put off the
trucks and those from Coldingen put off buses at Strathspey. However,
those who walked were allowed to go through. She said that even though
the problem was between the people of Buxton and the police, she
stayed home to be on the safe side. She said that she did not feel
threatened at any time.
Two employees of Coldingen told Stabroek News that
they felt safer walking through Buxton with Guyanese of African
descent. They said that some people walked from Strathspey to
Plaisance that day.
On the other hand some residents of Annandale South said that persons
who were held up on their side "footed it" to the villages
on the other side of Buxton.
Annandale South is a mixed community and residents there said they
had no problems of race among themselves. One man said that in a
community like Annandale South, "you have to feel safe".