Following threats, Annandale man to leave village
Stabroek News
September 5, 2002
Alimudeen Noorhassan is packing up his belongings and moving out of Annandale after receiving death threats in relation to a shooting that took place in his yard.
The businessman of Lot 92 Marshall Street told Stabroek News that on Monday police shot a Buxtonian in his yard while the man was trying to escape. He said ever since, he has been receiving threats from persons who believe it was he who shot the man. They told Noorhassan they would burn down his house and kill him.
But he wants to make it clear he was in the city at around 10 am on Monday when he got the news that there was a shooting in his yard.
The tearful businessman who has lived in the East Coast Demerara village for 40 years insisted he was not home at the time of the incident and it was unfair for him to be linked to the man’s shooting. He said after the man was shot and taken out of his yard the police left the area and did not return to his home, giving the impression that he had shot him. The man was later taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he is nursing two gunshot wounds. Stabroek News understands that a group of about 25 men were assembling near to the Annandale Market on Monday in order to attack residents when a police patrol foiled their bid. Police claimed that the men fired upon them and ran.
The police gave chase and while going after them some ran into residents’ yards and escaped. But the police cornered one of them in Noorhassan’s yard and he was shot during an exchange with the police.
Noorhassan lamented what he called the lack of protection the village has been receiving, saying the promise by the police, only two days ago, to increase patrols had failed to materialise.
e said he was not prepared to risk his life by staying in the village and cited what happened to the Chester family in Buxton, adding that if those men are intent on killing him, they will do so at any cost. Other businessmen are said to have received death and arson threats.
The common cry in the village yesterday was one of fear. The police were not present but a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) mobile patrol was driving through the streets while residents looked on nervously.
Some said it appears that the men who have attacked the village have good information on what residents have in their homes and where they do business.
Early yesterday afternoon some of the main grocery stores and greens stalls were already closed. Stabroek News observed many of the houses were stripped of their window curtains, giving the impression that the occupants have moved out.
Over the last two weeks Annandale and neighbouring areas have been attacked by gangs of youths who have come from Buxton and returned to that village after their raids.