LEADER of the group of illegal protesters which attacked the Presidential Complex on Wednesday, Phillip Bynoe, is to be charged, Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald said yesterday, assuring such an action will not happen again.

"We acknowledge the right to protest peacefully, but we cannot and will not condone any conduct deemed at disrupting the activities of this country", McDonald declared at a news conference.

Two persons were shot dead after a group invaded the Office of the President in New Garden Street, Georgetown, and the top cop said those who survived "are lucky to be alive". Eight persons were wounded, while 17 were arrested, he said.

"That place is sacrosanct and should always be protected regardless of the costs. We would not allow that situation to be manifested again. The Office of the President must not be regarded as an ordinary office and I consider it an affront to this entire country for those elements to attempt, even attempt, to enter that building", McDonald told reporters.

He said that the Police are "well equipped" to deal with any future protests and at the same time guarantee the safety of the foreign delegates in Guyana attending the 23rd Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), as well as all the conference venues.

McDonald said it is apparent that the tent that was erected for about a month now in front of Prime Minister Sam Hinds' residence on Main Street, Georgetown, served as a staging ground for Wednesday's protest action.

Police removed the tent on Wednesday evening, as members of the group threatened persons at the nearby Main Street Plaza Hotel and "were bold enough" to threaten to burn down the building.

"At that stage, the Police couldn't sit idly by, so we moved and dismantled the tent," he said.

An eyewitness denied claims by persons who were under the tent that Policemen beat, kicked and harassed senior citizens while dismantling the camp.

She said that at around 16:00 hrs a sizeable number of those who were protesting gathered at the site "to eat". This could be confirmed by the numerous food boxes left scattered after the tent was removed Wednesday night.

The eyewitness told the Chronicle that some of the "young men" started threatening foreign guests of the hotel. "We ain't want y'all in we country", she recalled the rugged-looking youngsters saying.

She said that as soon as law enforcement ranks turned up at the site, members of the group ran under the tent and started singing "gospels".

The lawmen retreated from the area, but the protesters again started taunting the hotel's guests, the eyewitness said, reporting that one young man came out with a gasolene tank in one hand and a shiny object in the other and threatened to burn down the hotel.

"We gon burn y'all out tonight, we gon burn y'all down to the ground", she remembered the protesters saying to persons at the hotel.

Shortly after, she said members of the Police Tactical Services Unit returned to the site and dismantled the tent, but they did not touch any of the protesters, as some of the women later claimed on television.

The protest march organised by Bynoe was illegal as the permission he sought from the Police was denied.

Several persons were beaten and robbed along the route of the protest that kicked off from the East Coast Demerara village of Golden Grove. Notably, McDonald said that two of the vehicles used in the protest action were registered in the name of the Linden Power Company with which Bynoe is affiliated.

The Police Commissioner said that the march to the city was not stopped as the Police were mindful of "much more harm" than was eventually done on Wednesday.

He said permission was not granted for it as the Police wished to concentrate its energies on the CARICOM summit and because of previous statements by Bynoe and other politicians.

McDonald did not name the other politicians, but spoke of statements they made to remove the Government and others such as "bad boy against bad boy" and "shoot and shoot back". He said these comments were misleading and triggered the "nonsensical conduct by those protesters".

The protesters who stormed the Payless Variety store on Regent Street and set it afire, also did not spare the firemen and policemen at the scene.

McDonald reported that one fireman was pulled off from a Fire Service vehicle and soundly beaten and policemen had to go to his rescue.

One policeman on the East Coast Demerara was beaten with a baseball bat and robbed of $18,000.

"He wasn't armed, luckily (for the protestors) he wasn't armed", McDonald stated, also reporting that two other policemen received serious injuries.

As the fire razed the Payless store and caught on to the Fullworth's store, some of the protesters went to the bus parks, "robbing people and creating mayhem", the Commissioner reported.

The Police had to go to the rescue of some 15 workers who were trapped inside a building on Regent Street by the protesters.

Later in the evening, two buildings - Courts Furniture Store on Regent Street and the Caribbean Chemicals building on South Road were set afire by incendiary devices hurled into them. The fires were extinguished and no major damage resulted.

McDonald said the Police will continue to maintain vigilance on the streets, noting that so far security arrangements for the CARICOM summit have run smoothly.

"We would not allow them (the protesters) to do what they like in this city or any other part of this country. Because this country belongs to all Guyanese and no one group should think that it has the right to inconvenience anyone in this society. We will maintain our vigilance and we would ensure that peace and tranquility is maintained," the Police chief stated.