Rohee blames Police for firing on protestors

Dec 09, 2011 News

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Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has blamed the Guyana Police Force for what he described as the inexplicable and unacceptable shooting of protestors in the back last Tuesday.
The Minister conveyed his utter displeasure at the actions of the police during a meeting on Thursday with Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene;  Assistant Commissioner, George Vyphius,  Commander “A” Division; Senior Superintendent Linden Alves, 2nd  in command of “A” Division; Superintendent Errol Watts  3rd in command of the same division;  Senior Superintendent Clifton Hicken, officer in charge of the Tactical Services Unit and Assistant Superintendent Patrick Todd, Unit Commander, to initiate  investigations into the circumstances surrounding the shooting of rubber bullets at A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) protestors three days ago.

The Minister said that the actions of the police were another manifestation of bad judgement by the ranks on the ground and must never be repeated.
Eleven persons, including former Army Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Edward Collins, attorney-at-law James Bond and former PNCR parliamentarian Joan Baveghems were injured when the police opened fire on them with rubber bullets.
The police actions had come in for some condemnation from a number of stakeholders, including Guyana Human Rights Association Executive Member, Mike Mc Cormack, and the Alliance for Change (AFC).
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that Minister Rohee, out of deep concern over the firing of rubber bullets by the Police, convened the high-level meeting where it was made clear from the outset that the Ministry has always sought to restrain itself from interfering and/or meddling in operational matters executed by the Guyana Police Force.
However, the police officers were told that while operational matters undoubtedly fall within the purview of the Guyana Police Force, once it is badly executed due to poor judgement by ranks on the ground, they can have serious political repercussions, as was demonstrated by Tuesday’s events.
Rohee in his statement, categorically pointed out that at no time during Tuesday’s police operation were instructions issued by him to use rubber bullets against the protestors.
That decision, he said, was solely a decision made by the Unit Commander on the ground at the time and this was confirmed by the Commissioner of Police at yesterday’s meeting.
Rohee expressed surprise that a junior police rank had the authority to make such an important decision, and expressed the view that such a decision/determination ought to be made at a higher level.
He was advised that according to the Police Force’s Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), this is indeed the case.
Rohee was informed that in light of the circumstances on the ground at the time, it was the Unit Commander who took the decision himself without consulting the Divisional Commander or the Commissioner of Police.
The Minister conveyed to the Commissioner and the other Officers present at yesterday’s meeting his concern about the serious lapse in the execution of the SOP as regards crowd control, and called upon the Commissioner to immediately begin putting in place other best practices in respect of crowd control and the necessary corrective administrative and command control measures, to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate turn of Tuesday’s events.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs release, the Minister received detailed oral reports from all the players in the Force who were involved in monitoring the protest march up to the shooting of the rubber bullets and the arrest of some of the protestors.
“From the reports received, it was clear that there was some misunderstanding on the part of the organisers of the march, whether permission was granted or not granted for a march to take place.  However, this misunderstanding, according to the Police, was clarified by senior ranks on the ground who advised the organisers of the protest march that permission was not granted and therefore the need to postpone the protest march and to resubmit a fresh application.
“This was agreed, but eventually reversed by the organisers themselves, who then proceeded to form themselves in a manner aimed at continuing with the procession, knowing full well that permission was not granted,” the statement said.
According to the Home Affairs Ministry, it has never been the intention of the Administration to prevent any organization, political, religious or NGO from conducting peaceful processions in Guyana.
It stressed, however, that such a right must be exercised within the meaning of the laws of Guyana.  “Further, it is important to note that exercise of Rights goes with matching responsibilities. Section 5(1) Cap 16:03 of the Public Order Act of Guyana states: “No person shall hold or take part in any public procession other than a funeral procession unless the permission in writing of the Chief Officer of           Police has been first obtained.”
The Act further states;  “Any person who desires to hold a public procession other than a funeral procession shall not less than forty-eight hours previous to the time at which he desires to hold the procession apply in writing to the Chief Officer of Police for permission to hold the procession.  If the Chief Officer of Police grants permission he shall at the time order in writing the routes to be followed and the times during which the procession may pass along such routes and shall give any special orders which he may consider necessary in relation to such procession.
Every person who holds or takes part in a procession shall conform to the orders of the Chief Officer of Police. If the Chief Officer of Police refuses to grant permission for the holding of a public procession the person who has applied for such permission may appeal in writing against such refusal to the Minister, and in such case the Minister may give such directions to the Chief Officer of Police as he may think fit.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs stated that had an appeal been received from the organisers of the march, the unfortunate turn of events would have been avoided.
The Minister advised the senior officers that he was of the view that there is a need to put in place new creative  measures, particularly in respect of public  protest marches/processions these include; publishing notices in the daily newspapers and TV giving the name of the organisers, the date, time and route of the procession; publishing in the daily newspapers and TV the Laws of Guyana as regards public processions; and having meetings on the day before the procession between the Divisional Commander and organisers to review the arrangements for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the procession.
“In the same way that other public events  are carried out in a peaceful manner, there is no reason why  a public procession to protest or otherwise cannot be conducted in a similar peaceful manner with the police doing its level best to ensure that peace and good order is maintained at all times,” the Home Affairs Ministry said.
Meanwhile the Guyana Police Force has informed that approval has been given for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to hold a march around the streets of Georgetown today, commencing at 15:00 hours from the Square of the Revolution and culminating at the Stabroek Square where a public meeting will be held at 17:00 hours.
The route which has been approved for the march is as follows: Assembly at the Square of the Revolution; North along Vlissengen Road; West along Lamaha Street; South along Main Street into Avenue of The Republic and West along Croal Street to Stabroek Square.

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