Two protesters were shot dead yesterday after an unruly band invaded the presidential complex, ransacked offices and threatened staff just hours before CARICOM Heads were to open a meeting in Georgetown.
In the looting and fiery mayhem that followed, two stores on Regent Street were gutted and arson attempts made on others but the Heads of Government Summit opening proceeded as planned without a glitch.
Days of concern that a plan was afoot to disrupt the CARICOM Summit and embarrass the government materialised during the confrontation in which ten were injured including a security officer at the Office of the President.
The two dead persons - a man reportedly from Linden called 'Punter' and a woman from Bare Root, East Coast Demerara called 'Nicole' - had not been positively identified up to press time. Five of the injured, including a pregnant woman, were admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where they were treated for gunshot wounds.
Those admitted are Tracy Hopkinson, 29, of 89 Victoria Village; Germaine Fraser, 25, of Beterverwagting (BV), East Coast Demerara; Orland Caesar, 25, of BV; Ralph Caesar, 30, of Blueberry Hill, Linden; and Mark Lewis, 29, of Golden Grove, ECD. Hopkinson, who is pregnant, sustained a gunshot wound to the face. Fraser was shot on the right finger. Ralph Caesar received a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Sergeant Lewis of the Presidential Guard was beaten by the protesters and admitted to a city hospital.
Others injured were Bryan London, 19, of Paradise, ECD; Andy Williams, 32, of West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme; Kelvin Nicholson of Melanie, ECD; and Clint Fletcher, 32, of Linden.
The protesters had been marching under the instructions of leader of the People's Solidarity Movement, Phillip Bynoe. The movement, set up in the last few weeks, comprises workers from the bauxite industry and other groups. The opposition PNC/R had previously marched with it and did so again yesterday.
According to a press release from the Guyana Police Force Public Relations Department, the illegal procession of about 300 persons, led by Bynoe, moved off from Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara. But Stabroek News observed that the march began at Victoria, ECD and swelled when it got to Golden Grove.
When the procession reached the city just off the embankment road in the vicinity of Sheriff and David streets, it halted for more than 20 minutes while leaders discussed possible routes they should take. They then moved through Subryanville and then onto the Kitty Public Road and at this point a police crash truck was seen escorting them. They moved along Vlissengen Road and turned west into Crown Street, Queenstown and into Alber-town where they were joined by another group, which had formed at the Square of the Revolution. In this new group a few faces from the opposition, PNC/R were seen including James McAllister and PNC/R Chairman Robert Corbin who was travelling in a pick-up van.
On Lamaha Street, Bynoe's faction deserted the main group and headed in the direction of the Office of the President, while the other group marched along Lamaha Street and then into Main Street.
At OP, an eyewitness told this newspaper, Bynoe, who was leading, stepped back and then shouted: "move." According to the eyewitness at the sound of Bynoe's order the mob immediately stormed OP's gate and some 20 of them entered the compound. Footage of the invasion was shown on VCT Channel 28 last evening. Bynoe is a former PNC MP who was later estranged from the party and has recently been back in good graces with it. Bynoe called at a recent rally for the government to removed and this was endorsed by PNC/R Leader Desmond Hoyte. The PNC/R later said that this did not mean removal by force of arms.
In a statement, the Office of the President said just before lunch, a group of protesters stormed the complex and despite appeals of the security ranks, assaulted the guards and forced their way into the compound through the New Garden Street entrance. Sergeant Lewis, the officer in charge of the presidential guards at the New Garden Street entry was beaten, the release said. He suffered head injuries and had to be hospitalised.
"Continuous appeals by the Office of the President security failed to prevent the invasion, although warning shots were fired in the air. The protesters forced their way into several offices, concentrating on the accounts department. There, they threatened several staff members and a number of work-study students, holding them at knife-point and robbing them. They then began to carry out an indiscriminate destruction of equipment and furniture and parts of the offices," the release said.
The Office of the President statement further disclosed that a confrontation took place in the accounts department, and two of the protesters were fatally shot there. The police arrested several of the protesters who invaded the complex.
A second statement from OP also said that the invaders were demanding access to the first floor confidential secretariat of the President while holding staffers at knifepoint. "Such an attack on the Office of the President is unprecedented and must be seen as a step ... to assassinate President Jagdeo and remove the elected PPP/C Government from office".
One employee of the Office of the President told Stabroek News yesterday that she and others were upstairs when the protesters stormed the complex. At the time, President Bharrat Jagdeo was attending the CARICOM Heads/NGO forum at the Ocean View Convention Centre, but several ministers and officials of the government were at work in their offices in the presidential complex.
"We were upstairs and then I heard shouts. I knew it was demonstrators coming. My colleague was in the security office making a phone call and I heard these loud voices... so I went to her and told her the demonstrators are coming. On my way back, I heard one gunshot, then I heard two and then another... about 20. I was scared. So I go back to her and say, `They shooting.'," the woman related. She said that at the time, she did not know who were firing the shots.
The woman said she waited for a long while time before venturing out front, towards the New Garden Street entrance of the Office of the President.
"The policemen were in the yard. They had on bulletproof vests and then eventually, I saw them bringing persons out of the accounts department... about 20-odd of them. They placed them into an open-back vehicle, but they couldn't hold. Some were standing at the side and one of the [security officers] told them to brace to the wall. But they had already shot the two in Accounts... we didn't know yet."
The woman said, according to reports reaching her, after the protesters stormed the accounts department of the Office of the President, they placed a knife to the throat of one of the staffers and robbed him. But when contacted last night, the man said he was too traumatised to talk about the incident. Asked about a knife being placed to his throat, the man said: "Nobody had a knife. Nobody had a knife and nobody robbed me.
Right now, I am traumatised. The whole situation out there is dangerous right now at this stage of the game. I am not only traumatised, but very annoyed at the whole situation in the country." The man said he was in a room and upon emerging, he passed the bodies of the two protesters.
Reports state, too, that a pregnant woman, who works in the accounts department, was forced to hide under a desk during the fracas.
"But one of the sergeants got injured... that was how they got in, I heard. I heard they pushed the gate, break the lock and the gate flew in and hit the man on his head. I heard he had to get about 16 stitches above the eye... I was scared, but after I saw that they brought reinforcement and so many policemen with their bulletproof vests, I wasn't scared anymore... I have never experienced anything like that," the woman said.
Questions were being raised yesterday as to why security was so laid back at OP. The police had set up cordons in various parts of the city outside venues for the CARICOM leaders but no restraints were placed outside OP until after the invasion.
Fraser, one of the injured, told this newspaper: "We were protesting outside [Office of the President]. Some other persons went into the building, then the guards lock the gates and started shooting at people inside and outside the compound". Asked why they were protesting, the young man said: "Right now, people punishing. We need a government for everybody. It doesn't have to be PNC or GDP, but it must represent everybody."
News of the shooting was relayed to the other group that had marched along Main Street and they later joined the procession on Regent Street. By now, several of the protesters who were at first in the limelight had retreated, leaving a few, who were mournfully crying.
A few young men in the crowd were heard criticising Bynoe: "Look what he mek happen to da girl boy, imagine Nicole left Paradise to come hay to dead." However, shortly after, a white station wagon belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture was hijacked and set on fire. The car, PEE 4258, was heading to the ministry with the driver and another employee when a few men from the crowd pounced on it.
"Wheh you going?"
"I am going back to office," the driver replied.
"You ain't hear two people dead and lying at the Office of the President?"
Before the driver could have responded again, men and women began to hurl bottles and stones at the car and attempted to upturn it with the men inside. But the occupants pleaded with them and were let out. Upon their exit, the men overturned the car and lit it with gasoline. Moving off, they headed west into Regent Street and next pounced on a Bristol cigarettes van near Oronoque Street, taking an undisclosed sum of cash and cigarettes. The driver of the vehicle told Stabroek News that he was trying to evade the congestion when the mob stopped him. He said he quickly abandoned his van and ran.
By now the police contingent on Regent Street had grown and there was some measure of security in front of OP.
Diligent efforts
In a press release issued last evening, Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, expressed gratitude for the "diligent efforts" of the hospital staff in handling the challenge presented by the unexpected intake of patients at the Emergency department of the Georgetown Hospital, consequent to the incident.
Ramsammy also thanked blood donors, as the release noted that the blood bank was also challenged and sympathised with the family of the security officer who was injured in the line of duty while wishing him a speedy recovery. Further, the minister also extended best wishes to innocent persons who were injured by the protesters.
The minister condemned the actions of the protesters, and what the release deemed "obvious support by the main opposition party," particularly at a time when CARICOM leaders are being hosted. The release also indicated that persons who had been beaten by protesters were also treated at the GPHC.
Meanwhile, the PPP/Civic and the OP condemned the attack on the Office of the President Complex. The PPP/C slammed, "PNC activist Bynoe ... who recently launched a racist attack on the current administration and squatted in front of the Prime Minister's residence. It must be noted the PNC/R leaders ... had also been mobilising for today's illegal activities."
It said that the ruling party puts the blame for the acts of violence and arson squarely on the PNC/R, which was clearly taking advantage of the presence of CARICOM leaders to create mayhem in its continuing attempt to destabilize the elected government of the PPP/Civic. "The intention is to disrupt the summit meeting and drive fear in the minds of the delegates attending the CARICOM Heads of State in Georgetown," the release said.
OP said that the PNC/R had signalled its intention to "continue its reckless assault on constitutional authority, private property and innocent Guyanese by applying for permission for more marches in Georgetown on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week."
The release said that the government was calling on Guyanese to reflect on these incidents, on the PNC/R to renounce terrorism and recommit to dialogue between President Jagdeo and PNC/R Leader Hoyte. It said that the PNC/R must know the local, regional and international implications of attempting to overthrow an elected government.
The police release said that early in the morning several criminal activities were perpetrated along the ECD road, aimed at disrupting peace and stability. The police confirmed what this newspaper had witnessed at about 3 am, a fire which was lit on Victoria Public Road by a group of young men. This fire was extinguished by the police, but shortly after another fire was lit on Golden Grove Public Road by a group of about 50 persons. The police said that while the fire blazed at Golden Grove residents in the crowd chanted, "Mo fyah, mo fyah", a well-known PNC/R slogan. But the police again extinguished it.
At Belfield Public Road the police reported that a blockade was erected and the criminal elements used the shell of a motor car which they placed across the road. This was removed by the police.
The procession left Golden Grove for the city, by way of the Railway Embankment. While motoring along, supporters from some of the villages leading to the city joined the throng. The marchers displayed a number of banners and placards marked 'Solidarity Rally With Guyanese In pain And Suffering,' 'We Demand equal rights Jagdeo,' 'Disaster Looms at Bauxite Industries at Kwakwani, Linden and Everton.' While some of them marched along, others rode bicycles, motor cycles and were in minibuses and trucks. While the marchers were on the embankment road, a heavy police presence was visible in and around, Ocean View International Hotel at Liliendaal where the CARICOM Heads of Government were meeting regional civil society members. Though the march was illegal no attempt was made to stop it.
The police also said in a release that two citizens one from Good Hope and another from Success, both on the ECD were robbed by criminal elements in the procession. According to the police a 42-year-old victim was in a mini-bus driving slowly along Coldingen Public Road when a woman from the crowd allegedly approached her and snatched a gold chain with a pendant valued $16,000 from around her neck and disappeared back into the procession. And at Success a 32-year-old man was in his yard about 9:25 am when four men from the procession ran into his yard, beat him, threw his wife on the ground, grabbed his bicycle valued $8,000 and then rode out of the yard.