– Vyphuis reiterates pledge
AT a meeting with residents last Thursday held in the Vishnu Mandir in Alexander Village, Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee assured community representatives of Government’s full commitment to ensuring that the village once again enjoys its Diwali celebrations in a peaceful and tranquil ambience undisturbed by anti-social actions or explosive devices. For over ten years prior to Diwali celebrations of October 2009, Alexander Village had been held under siege by invading hordes that terrorized the inhabitants and vandalized and stole properties, even from the Vishnu Mandir, despite representations made to various bodies by villagers who sought surcease from the rampant hooliganism that made one of the holiest nights on the Hindu calendar one of abject terror, hopelessness and frustration.

Diwali night of 2008, villagers said that instead of celebrations, Diwali night was horror.

According to the angry villagers their normally peaceful, conservative community was usually invaded each Diwali night and Phagwah day by hordes of rowdy hooligans, who create havoc and throw squibs, including the extremely dangerous ‘thunder-king’, into gutter to spatter mud on newly-cleaned, pristine walls, which terrorized children and animals, causing pets to disappear for days, with a couple never being found again.

On Diwali nights the thugs invaded private properties, trampling diyas and destroying decorative features, fences and other properties – movable and immovable.  They scaled fences and sat barefacedly on verandas, garden furniture, or low-hanging roofs while residents cowered inside their locked homes in fear.

Mrs. Rohini Bonar, executive member of the Guyana Relief Council, said that her grandchildren were badly traumatized and some parents reported that their children even wet themselves out of fear. Most parents sent their children away to relatives and friends during Diwali and Phagwah holidays, forcing Hindu families to stay apart on their most sacred and significant holidays.
Marcel Leonard, a retiree who returned home after living in the USA for 25 years said that everyone in Alexander village shares each other’s religious celebrations and respects each other’s cultures and that there is absolute cooperation between villagers in community endeavours, where everyone lived in harmony and looked out for each other and the children of the neighbourhood.
He said the thugs affected everyone and that not only the mandir but also the vicinity of the mosque obliquely opposite is desecrated with filth and beer bottles (some broken) strewn wantonly about during the revelry of the invaders.
Mr. Leonard, who angrily denounced the hooligans because his little granddaughter, Nia Paris Leonard, had been absolutely terrified by antics of the thugs, said that although he is not a Hindu, he admires the way the mainly young members of the mandir set standards and goals that other young persons can emulate.
During the invasion by the hooligans huge firecrackers, which were sold openly by vendors, were flung into homes, tearing huge holes in homes and destroying windows and furniture, with one thunder king setting a couch on fire.
Residents said that unruly elements who come from far away communities on the East Coast corridor used their village as a fairground on one of their most sacred holidays, selling and consuming liquor, substances and food, including Bar-B-Que chicken, that desecrates their religious observances.
Some hooligans had committed the ultimate sacrilege by climbing on the roof of the shed of the mandir, eaten their chicken and drunk their alcohol, then discarded the remnants of bones, food boxes, rum bottles and other litter on the mandir’s roof.  The Lord Shiva murti was also spattered with muddy water from the drains.
But what was definitely a miracle was that a highly explosive thunder king that had been deliberately thrown into the mandir’s storeroom, which housed two generators, gas bottles and other inflammable substances, fizzled out inches away from a generator.
The mandir, which had been packed with devotees, would have been a scene of carnage and mutilation if the firecracker had detonated.
Residents say they have no problem with anyone visiting their village to enjoy the beautiful decorations, but over a dozen years ago the invaders had massed from afternoon and the situation would escalate to terrifying proportions, forcing villagers to abandon their celebratory activities and barricade themselves like terrified prisoners in their own homes.

They could not even light diyas in their yards because these were ruthlessly trampled into dust.
Residents could not access their own homes with their vehicles and were forced to park on the main road, resulting in many vehicles being burglarized and vandalized.
On Diwali night 2008 police reported that one person from Albouystown, Renita Richardson, had collapsed after a squib had been thrown at her.
Also the flashing light unit of Police Force vehicle PGG 6210 was damaged by a squib that was hurled at the vehicle.  The sale, possession and used of explosive devices is illegal in Guyana but, so far, the law has been no real deterrent to those determined to make the lives of peaceful persons and animals a misery during celebratory activities, including Christmas.

APPEAL FOR HELP
However, in 2009 representatives from Alexander Village appealed to President Bharrat Jagdeo for help, and the response was prompt and effective.  After several meetings with Home Affairs Minister and senior police officers, including Deputy Commander of “A” Division, Mr. D.  Ramnarine and Commissioner Henry Greene, who made initial reconnaissance and conferred with residents to strategise on the most effective mechanism to protect the village, police ranks were deployed in overwhelming numbers around the perimeters of the mandir and throughout the village from as early as noon on Diwali day.
Vehicles were disallowed into the village after 5 p.m. and visitors were thoroughly scrutinized by ranks stationed at strategic locations, with explosive devices being confiscated.
For the first time in over a decade the mandir and Hindu homes were brilliantly lit, with residents sitting on their verandas and strolling in their village to enjoy the splendour and the ambience in peace and tranquility.
Mrs. Sharvitree Alfred said that her teenage son, who has never before been able to invite his friends home at Diwali, could finally do so, even taking them for a stroll around the village. Her little daughter, who had spent years hiding between her parents and older brother while strangers broke their fence and invaded their home, setting off huge explosions on their verandah and roof, is in hiding no more and, for the first time in her life, experienced what a real Diwali celebration was like.
One old lady broke down in tears as she recounted being able to light diyas in her Shiv Mandir on a Diwali night for the first time in years, because her property was usually invaded by the thugs, causing her to lock herself in her home on these auspicious occasions.
The villagers had expressed their overwhelming gratitude to the Government and the Guyana Police Force for the intervention that had enabled them to enjoy a Diwali celebration in their village for the first time in over a decade.
They said that the police did their job with a high degree of professionalism, stoically ignoring the taunts and provocative language of some thwarted hooligans who complained loudly that the police were “humbugging” their fun.
The cadences of puja being conducted once more on a Diwali night at the Vishnu Mandir resonated in the air.
Both the Minister, who was flanked at the head table by senior police officers and community representatives, and Asst Commissioner Vyphuis pledged that until the village returns to normalcy, where the villagers can enjoy their Diwali celebrations without disturbances from disruptive elements, they will ensure that the residents are provided full security to prevent any disruption of the celebratory activities in the village.
In his brief address, the commander said they will deal condignly with offenders who break the law, reminding the audience that selling or possessing explosive devices is against the law. He promised more improved security arrangements that will be a deterrent to all those bent on making mischief and causing trouble in the village. He promised police presence from 13:00 hours, with entry of vehicles being restricted from 15:00 hours.
Recalling that Alexander Village was once a “show-piece” on Diwali night, the Commander said he had experienced first-hand the gradual deterioration of the celebrations when a squib was once flung at his vehicle, causing extensive damage to his windscreen.
He said that even the police would be celebrating Diwali with the villagers because the “light and blessing” would also shine on them.
Thanking the villagers for their public expression of their satisfaction for the Government’s support and police professionalism last year, which resulted in their enjoying their Diwali celebrations for the first time in over ten years, Minister Rohee expressed his gratification at the partnership between residents, the Police Force, and the Administration that brought about that transformation.
He recalled that the situation had escalated to unbearable, unacceptable and intolerable levels, where people’s patience had run out because the very auspicious Diwali celebrations had lost its significance and become a degraded event through the invasion of the community by persons bent on disruptive actions in the community.
Stressing that the level of cooperation between villagers and the police need to be maintained in order to sustain the success of the security efforts, the Minister advised that persons in the community who sell or use explosive devices should be monitored by fellow villagers and urged to desist, or bear the consequences, because there would be zero tolerance of such practices, even for residents.
He was pleased to note that the community had an active CPG and lauded the support this will provide police ranks. He said the long-term objective, hopefully achievable in the not-too-distant future, is to facilitate the gradual process of transformation until Alexander Village is no longer besieged by vandals during their sacred Diwali celebrations and that presence of police to ensure a peaceful and tranquil Diwali celebrations would no longer be required.
Mrs. Rohini Bonar expressed her great appreciation for the excellent and professional work of the police last year and voiced her expectation that this will continue this year.
To this request both the Minister and Commander gave complete assurance, both concurring that the villagers have the right to peaceful and tranquil Diwali celebrations.