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Hill Foot residents protest demolition of homes ordered by court
Kaieteur News – Scores of Hill Foot, Soesdyke Highway residents on Wednesday night blocked the Soesdyke Highway with burning debris after their homes were bulldozed by authorities.
Residents in a stand-off with police along the Linden Soesdyke Highway
The demolition reportedly took place just after midday.
Residents alleged that they were assaulted by police ranks and dragged out of their homes during the demolition exercise. Others claimed that police fired shots to scare them away and had them running for cover, leaving them and their young children traumatized.
Kaieteur News was shown videos of persons screaming as police ran to pull them out of their homes while the excavator prepared to knock the wooden structures to the ground with its boom. There were also videos of policemen using force to restrain some of the residents as they tried to stop the destruction of their homes.
The ranks seen in the video, however, appeared as if they were trying to get the residents out of harm’s way as the excavator operator swung the boom without concern for the human lives still inside the wooden structures.
Residents without a place to spend the night, speaking with Kaieteur News
Nevertheless, the residents maintained that some of them were brutally assaulted by the ranks in the process. Claims were made that ranks kicked a pregnant woman in her tummy and allegedly broke the nose of another.
Some were also detained by the ranks and taken into police custody. Asked why their homes were being destroyed, the residents said that a man who goes by the last name ‘Lawrence’ is claiming ownership of the lands they had built their homes on.
The man, they claimed, told them that he bought the property spanning hundreds of acres for millions of dollars but reportedly failed to show them documents to back his claims.
Meanwhile, in seeking clarity on the matter surrounding the demolition of the residents’ home, police issued a statement claiming that it was ordered by the court.
“Following a court order and the subsequent demolition of a property located at Hill Foot, Soesdyke, several persons armed themselves with missiles and offensive weapons before piling and lighting debris and tyres across the Linden/Soesdyke Highway,” the Guyana Police force stated late last night.
Ranks restraining one of the residents during the demolition process
An excavator demolishing one of the residents’ homes
Residents, however, are contending that the demolition of their homes was sudden and without any prior notice given.
“He never come and give we no notice but he say that he bring papers and show people,”one woman alleged.
The residents said that they have been living there for years unbothered- some for three years and others for 20 years- and have even planted fruit trees on the property.
As Kaieteur News conducted interviews at the scene it was painful to see scores of residents without a place to spend the night- some with with babies in their arms. Some even were unaware that their homes were destroyed. “People come home from their jobs to find their houses flat on the ground,” one man commented.
While a few of the residents were able to find lodging, others were forced to set up mattresses and sleep with their children on the roadside.
They are demanding that President Irfaan Ali pay them a visit and resolve the situation that has left them homeless.
“We need the President here to come look at this here where what we going through,” a female resident shouted. Kaieteur News understands that more than a hundred homes were destroyed.
Meanwhile joint services ranks were able to restore the smooth flow of traffic after calming down the irate residents and clearing the highway of all debris.
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