Man shot dead during protests, rioting - Cops, women and children injured, vehicles damaged

Man shot dead during protests, rioting – Cops, women and children injured, vehicles damaged

Mar 07, 2020 News

By Malisa Playter Harry

It was absolute chaos in several parts of Region Five and Region Six as supporters of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic descended onto the streets to protest for a verification of Region Four Statements of Poll (SOP’s) and a recount of the region as well.
Hundreds of visibly angry and frustrated persons attired lit wooden pallets, tyres, old abandoned cars and buses throughout the public road from Experiment Village and throughout several other villages on the West Coast Berbice.
The protestors also blocked the roads with agriculture machinery parts, an old guard hut and tree branches while chanting “GRANGER MUST GO”.
“Everybody ah suffer, abay na want Granger, he is a crass”, a protestor told reporters.
Another protestor said, “This is too much advantage that is why we are doing. He is a shameless president, abay na get money fuh pay bill and all kind of ting dem ah do to we”.
Protestors were adamant that their party won the elections and that the APNU/AFC have not, “they lose the election and they must go”, an angry woman standing along the roadside said.
Another woman, Sandra questioned why GECOM took so long to release results from Region 4 and reasoned that, “Guyanese people are not stupid, Region 4 took too long to come out, why they took out these people from GECOM office that night and then after that they want to swear in Granger secretly.
That is unfair, Granger don’t work and put money in anybody’s pocket, what is fair is fair”.
The riot police who showed up at Bath Settlement and Experiment Village when the situation was beginning to escalate were met with bottles, bricks and other objects hurled towards them.
One man was shot and killed at Cotton Tree, West Berbice. He was identified as Devon Subhan. According to reports, Subhan was shot by police and succumbed at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.
He reportedly had eleven pellet shots dispersed about his body.
And a teenager girl, Annuradha Sukra, of Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, was shot and is now a patient at the Fort Wellington Hospital.
The scene was chaotic as Region Five Candidate for the PPP/C Harry Gill tried to calm his party supporters by telling them to “GO HOME”. Those pleas were ignored as the people refused to leave the public roads.
Many were brandishing placards that demanded a recount of Region Four and the verification of the SOPs in that region. Others including young men, women and elders angrily ran through the streets armed with objects that were hurled at policemen and women.
Two unarmed constables were saved by reporters driving back to Region Six after the protestors were chasing and pelting them with large bricks. They were taken to a safe location some villages away where other senior ranks were present.
Kaieteur News was informed that five ranks, including a female and a senior officer, were injured by the raging protestors who refused to leave the streets. They are reportedly seeking medical attention at the Fort Wellington Hospital, a police source said.
Up to around 19:00 hrs, protestors were still on roads burning tyres and other objects to stop the flow of traffic. Bricks were hurled at passing vehicles, even those with children inside.
A David Granger school bus from Region Five had the back windscreen smashed in by the protestors armed with bricks, reportedly injuring children in the process. A police vehicle was also damaged by the bricks tossed from one end of the public road to the other.
By late into the afternoon, supporters from the APNU/AFC from Belladrum and other areas in Region Five had armed themselves with cutlasses and were boarding vehicles to confront the hundreds of protestors.
There were confrontations, Kaieteur News understands, but the extent of injuries could not be confirmed. Persons were also arrested, a police source said.
Meanwhile, over in Region Six, protests erupted in East Canje, Black Bush Polder, Number 19 Village and Tain Village with reports and videos surfacing of ranks of the Guyana Police Force forming a human barricade with their shields to block the protestors.
Roads, tyres and old machinery were also set alight in Black Bush Polder while Number 19 Village burnt tyres and branches across the public road, halting traffic for some time until the police managed to get things under control.
A policeman was injured at Tain Village after an object was tossed at him while he was in the tray of the police vehicle.
He is said to be nursing minor injuries and seeking medical attention at the Port Mourant Hospital.