What started as a protest over the recent police killing of Quindon Bacchus yesterday escalated into mayhem along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), where persons were robbed and property was destroyed, raising serious questions about the performance of the police.

The blocking of the main East Coast corridor at several points for most of the day yesterday inconvenienced large numbers of commuters and tear gas and pellets were fired by the police at several locations to restore order.

Last night, the police said that the road at Enmore to Golden Grove, ECD had been cleared by the Joint Services and is being monitored. It said that the Joint Services will maintain their presence along to East Coast carriageway to ensure that peace is kept.

The police also said last night that one of its members was injured in the confrontations but had no information on civilians being wounded. (See page 10 for story on the experience of one civilian.)

The protest was sparked by an erroneous report on the Guyana Daily News Facebook page that claimed that the policeman responsible for the fatal shooting had been released from custody.

Yesterday’s protest began at about 07:00 hrs at Golden Grove with around 10 persons, including family and friends of Bacchus, who were demanding justice for him.

While several peaceful protests over Bacchus’ killing had previously been organised without incident, persons began to block the road yesterday at the Golden Grove Market as the numbers protesting swelled to approximately three hundred.

Some of the protestors proceeded west along the public road and hundreds from other villages joined them as they passed by.

“One man shut down this whole East Coast,” a protestor said in reference to the policeman who fatally shot Bacchus. Others said: “Why they can’t charge this man for murder and everything will go back to normal?” “I am a mother and this could happen to anybody pickney” and “How you gon loose that boy the day after the funeral? That’s disrespect.”

They began blocking sections of the East Coast of Demerara Public Road as they moved along, disrupting the flow of traffic. They used tyres, garbage bins, trolleys, tree trunks, wheel barrows, abandoned cars, old refrigerators and garbage, among other things, to block the road at several points. Some lit the tyres and other debris on fire.

Out of fear, some business places secured their premises as the protestors targeted vending stands as they moved along. At Annandale village, this newspaper saw vendors picking up galvanized sheets and pieces of wood that were the remains of their destroyed stands.

A number of the protestors, some of whom used tshirts and scarves to hide their identities, were later seen on the bicycles and motor bikes transporting vegetables, groceries and other goods stolen from vendors at Mon Repos market, where stands were also destroyed.

While there was little to no police presence at various points during the protest, the force

announced yesterday afternoon that members of the Joint Services were on the ground monitoring the roadway to mitigate against acts of crime or damage to state property.

Meanwhile, taking note of the “upsurge of the events along the East Coast corridor,” the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) issued a statement urging the public to remain calm as it wraps up its probe.

The statement, signed by PCA Chairman Justice (Ret’d) William Ramlal, explained that there are statutory procedures that must be followed.

It said following the fatal shooting the Commissioner of Police acted promptly and immediately assigned a senior investigator, under the direct supervision of Justice Ramlal, to investigate. “Consequently, the investigation by the Police Complaints Authority in collaboration with the Office of Professional Responsibility has been progressing rapidly. A thorough investigation is necessary in order to ensure a free, fair and transparent finding. As such, all the protocols must be observed and the outcome of that process would be communicated in due course,” it added.

Misleading information

President Irfaan Ali, via his Facebook page, yesterday morning urged residents living on the East Coast Demerara to not be misled by any social media posting or any information that is not verified. “I have been advised that not only is that police in custody but there is a second police in custody who is assisting [the] investigation. We must allow the system and the institution to work and complete their responsibility. This is an independent process and I’m assured by the chairman who has advised me that very early in the new week, [the PCA] is hoping that by Monday they’ll be in a position to present his report to the [Director of Public Prosecutions].”

Ali pleaded with residents to go home and clear the roadways. “All of us want justice, all of us want fairness, but we cannot base our action on misleading information.”

Ali subsequently visited Buxton, on the East Coast of Demerara, where he had a discussion with residents and stated that the investigation would be completed shortly and that if the policeman is found culpable he will face the consequences for his actions. In the president’s brief remarks, he stated that in order for the country to move forward it cannot be done by division and he then said the robberies and violence against vendors that took place at Mon Repos was totally wrong.

Like Ali, the Guyana Press Association yesterday cautioned the public against the use of social media platforms claiming to function as independent news organisations “particularly in the face of unrest and instability.”

“We remind all media practitioners that verification of news and information is a primary requirement of news gathering and dissemination.

“This is an obligation that’s sadly absent in the outputs of some groups and individuals presenting themselves as media operatives,” the Association added in a statement.

It also said that based on repeated instances in which the entity’s content was proven to be unreliable, unverified, and unethically intended to mislead media audiences, the Association did not recognise Guyana Daily News as a bona fide news organisation “within the strict meaning of the term and with regard to basic journalistic obligations.”

Bacchus, a father of one, was shot multiple times by a policeman three weeks ago at Haslington New Scheme, East Coast Demerara, in what was initially claimed to be an undercover operation that went awry.

Bacchus’ family had requested an impartial investigation and the acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken subsequently visited the family and assured that an impartial investigation would be done by the PCA.