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Police did not follow protocol for Marriott protest – ex Commissioner
Former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix has called the actions of the police force on Thursday morning as being outside their allotted authority.
Former Police Commissioner Winston Felix
His comments came as images from Thursday’s standoff in front of the newly built Guyana Marriott surfaced. These pictures showed the police using force against peaceful protestors.
At the time the protestors were not within the hotel compound, nor were they engaged in obstructing entrance to the hotel. They were not even blocking traffic.
Felix laid out what the rights of protestors were and what was the prerogative of the police.
“People are entitled to assembly and to picket, provided they do not block entrances and trespass on property.”
The veteran law enforcement official, who also served as an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament, pointed out that none of this occurred on Thursday.
“What I have against this police action is that this did not happen, but they sought to move people from the point they were protesting to where they wanted them. That is not the duty of the police.”
Felix, who served as Commissioner of Police from 2004 to 2006, said that what the police have the authority to do in that scenario was to ensure that the road was not blocked and free movement to the premises was maintained.
“Once the law is not broken, telling people they cannot go here and they cannot go there is totally out of the question.”
The taxpayer-funded hotel saw heavy police presence and barricades around its environs. As the proceedings were about to start, protestors who were held at bay by police in front of the nearby Pegasus Hotel, broke through and made their way to the Marriott, waving their placards and chanting loudly.
Among those who were allegedly ‘roughed up’ by the police was A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) candidate Ronald Bulkan, Sherlina Nageer and the Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green.
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