Min. Broomes visits school children, police officers injured in Bath protests

Mar 08, 2020 News

Minister Simona Broomes visited the four school children and two police officers who were injured yesterday, during protests at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice.

Orissa Noble shows Minister Broomes a minor injury she suffered

Sergeant Punit Nauth Ibaran currently an in-patient at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital, receives a visit from Simona Broomes and Yonnett Stephen, Police Commander, Region Five.

Minister Broomes interacts with Reon Mobb who suffered a severe head injury

The Minister of Youth Affairs stopped at several homes along the West Coast Berbice where the children and their parents reside. Among them was 14-year-old, Orissa Noble.
Noble was among several students returning from school on a David ‘G’ School bus plying the route along the West Coast Berbice Public Road when disgruntled protestors pelted bottles and other objects at the bus.
The Fort Wellington Secondary School student told the minister she never expected the bus to come under attack. She was traumatised.
“I don’t want to remember what happened yesterday,” Orissa said.
Moriah Jaque, another student in the bus, remembered hiding under the seat and fainting. “We are innocent. No child in Guyana should go through this.”
Reon Mobb, also of Fort Wellington Secondary School, sustained a gash to his head after a shard of glass or a bottle, he believed, struck his head. By the time he sought to secure himself, he realised he was already bleeding.
He recounted, “I looked at my colleagues running under the seat to hide. If they did not get under the seat to hide, so many things would have happened.”
Christopher Srikishun of Blairmont, Jaguar Philander of Ithaca Village and Beyoncé Noble of Belladrum were also students on board who received visits from Minister Broomes.
After visiting the children at their homes, the minister noted that the actions of the protesters have been condemned. “You have children … Why would you attack a bus carrying children? They should be ashamed,” she said
Sergeant Punit Nauth Ibaran of the Blairmont Police Station was one of the policemen injured when the ranks attempted to quell the protests. He was visited by the minister at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital where he is currently recovering.
Ibaran said he was doing his job, which is to provide service and protection. Instead, he was met with a slew of insults and was then attacked. “I am a police officer to serve and protect. But they felt that I am against them,” he said.
Region Five Commander, Yonnett Stephen, who accompanied the minister granted Sergeant Ibaran’s request to be transferred.
Also visited by Minister Broomes was Tissie Wallerson, a Riot Unit officer on Number 30 village, West Coast Berbice. Wallerson is recovering from a severe injury to her foot while she was fleeing from the crowd.