Something strange happened Monday when the Demerara Assizes opened. Dozens of people gathered in the vicinity of the ceremonial opening and staged a protest. From early morning some of the protesters had gathered with their placards. They were saying that it is time treason accused Mark Benschop gets his day in court.
Usually, the ceremonial opening of the criminal assizes is a formal occasion that attracts the crowd because of the splendour. We all love a parade, and the ceremonial openings offer a most colourful parade. There was a time when these were all-male affairs but on a few occasions women members of the Guyana Police Force participated.
When the military drums are silenced the crowd would stand silently while the drill commanders bellow their instructions and the respective judge would set about inspecting the Guard of Honour.
On Monday, these commands were drowned out by the chants of the protesters. Something must be wrong with the system. The shock was clearly etched on the faces of the judges and they could not resist exchanging comments with each other.
Something had to be wrong, especially when one considered that among the protesters were lawyers. To add to the situation was that not a single political element was present among the ranks of the protestors or demonstrators.
Within recent times political elements have been at the centre of protests in the city and even on the sugar estates. In the days after some of the general elections there were street protests organised by the major political opposition.
In one case, supporters of that party took to the streets and were eventually adopted by the party. In the sugar estates, many of the people who call strikes have some form of political connection or the other. It matters not that they may be affiliated to the ruling party. That may help to produce a result but the fact is that political types organise many of the protests.
When the utility companies, particularly the Guyana Power and Light offended people, people were encouraged by the politicians to take to the streets and they did. When the government attempted to ban processions the political parties led the way on the streets and in the end they succeeded in securing people's right to protest.
When public servants felt that they deserved an increase they not only took strike action they took to the streets and got their wish. That it fuelled inflation never mattered.
For as long as one could remember there has been no criminal assizes at which all the matters are disposed of. More recently, except for those who have escaped from the criminal justice system, those listed at one of the criminal assizes would invariably be tried at the next session.
This has not been the case for Mark Benschop but then again the judiciary has been keen to explain that in many cases the witnesses are not available and this would delay the start of many cases. However, if the period of incarceration is prolonged the Director of Prosecutions could offer a nolle prosequi —meaning a case of no further prosecution.
The presence of the people on the streets seems to suggest that some of them feel that all is not well with the system as it relates to Benschop. But there are others in the system just as long as Benschop.
Yet Monday's protest should not escape unnoticed. It is as if people are sending a message that they want the Mark Benschop issue out of the way and that the only way they could achieve their ends is by way of protest.
This may not be the best thing because our society is full of evidence of the government digging in its heels in the face of protest. The talk is that Benschop's detention is political. The government says that it is criminal and something in which the government has no overt interest.
Whatever the case, people seem to believe that Benschop should have his day in court and they used the opening of the session to make this point, something that has never happened in the past.