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PNCR denied use of Square of Revolution for rally

May 15, 2008 News

“I will not retract my story on transferred police…in time the truth will be exposed,” Corbin.
Whilst announcing his protest march and rally today, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin says that the police have written to the party indicating that they will seek to prevent a reoccurrence of what transpired during the last march.

With regard to a confirmation of a route for the procession, which was blamed for the confusion on the previous march, Corbin said that his party had applied since May 10 and up to press time last evening there was no confirmation by the police as to the approved route for today’s procession.

The Guyana Police Force in a release to the media following the last march stated that appropriate actions would have to be taken in relation to the breaches of the law by the Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and members and supporters of his Party.

According to the Police, the PNCR had requested a specific route that included passing by the Georgetown jail and proceeding down a section of Regent Street.

“The Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud, considered the request and did not grant permission for the procession to pass the jail nor was it to proceed along Regent Street …The current security situation in the country and the concerns of members of the business community were taken into consideration by Persaud. He did not grant the route requested.”

Corbin also noted that a request for the use of a loud hailer, procession and rally culminating at Square of the Revolution yesterday was denied.

According to Corbin, he received a letter from Divisional Commander Welton Trotz saying that the permission was not granted by the Office of the President.

“Under the Public Order Act we are not required to seek permission to keep a public meeting…They require us to inform them (police) 48 hours prior to the meeting…What we applied for was the use of a noisy instrument.”

Kaieteur News has since learnt that Square of the Revolution does fall under the purview of the Office of the President, hence permission from that office is required for a rally there.

Stand by my word

Corbin also spoke of the denouncements of his statements that two police ranks were transferred into interior locations because they did not adhere to orders to shoot at the protestors.
Corbin said that he maintains his story that there were political directions to shoot into the crowd. “I will not retract that story…in time the truth will be exposed.”

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had lashed out at Corbin’s statement saying that he (Mr. Corbin) must provide the Minister of Home Affairs with the evidence.

“I cannot see how anyone in his proper senses would instruct policemen to shoot into a crowd indiscriminately. I cannot imagine a situation like that so why would Mr. Corbin concoct a scenario like this and where is the credible information?”

He said, “I, as the Minister of Home Affairs, challenge Mr. Corbin here and now to provide this information that he has, that the police were given instructions to shoot into that crowd…If he doesn’t, again it would be seen as a highly irresponsible and inflammable statement.”
Speaking with this newspaper, Corbin noted that the order to shoot into the crowd was aimed at provoking chaos. “Whoever issued the order wanted to trigger anarchy.”
“If you shoot into the crowd then people would run in all directions…It would appear, however, that the PPP Directorate wanted chaos and confusion, in order to discredit the PNCR…They, therefore, ordered the police officers to fire tear gas and bullets into the crowd…It is understood that the police officers, using their on-the-spot assessment of the situation, recognized that there was no necessity for any such action.”

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