… in statement on confrontation between police and APNU protesters Tuesday
THE Ministry of Home Affairs wishes to inform that Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, out of deep concern over the firing of rubber bullets by the police at APNU protestors, met yesterday with the Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, D.S.S., D.S.M.,  Assistant Commissioner George Vyphius, DSM, Commander “A” Division, Snr Supt Linden Alves 2nd  1/C “A” Division, Superintendent Errol Watts  3rd  1/C “A”, Division, Supt Clifton Hicken – O/C TSU, Asst Supt Patrick Todd, Unit Commander to initiate  investigations into the circumstances surrounding the shooting of rubber bullets at APNU protestors on Tuesday, December 6, 2011.
The ministry wishes to make it clear from the outset that it has always sought to restrain itself from interfering and or meddling in operational matters executed by the Guyana Police Force. The ministry has always done its level best to restrict itself to policy, programmatic and budgetary issues in respect to its role vis-à-vis the Guyana Police Force.
This role, notwithstanding, the Senior Police Ranks present at the meeting were advised by the minister that while operational matters undoubtedly fall within the purview of the Guyana Police Force, once badly executed due to poor judgement by ranks on the, they can have  serious political repercussions as was demonstrated by the events on December 6, 2011
The ministry wishes to make it clear that at no time during that particular police operation on Tuesday 6th were instructions issued by the Minister of Home Affairs to use rubber bullets against the protestors; that decision was solely a decision made by the Unit Commander on the ground at the time and this was confirmed by the Commissioner of Police at the meeting.
The Minister of Home Affairs expressed surprise over a Junior Rank having the authority to make such an important decision and expressed the view that such a decision/determination ought to be made at a higher level. The minister was advised that according to the SOP, this is indeed the case. However, he was informed that in light of the circumstances on the ground at the time, it was the Unit Commander who took the decision himself without consulting the Divisional Commander or the Commissioner of Police.
The minister conveyed to the Senior Ranks present his concern about this serious lapse in the execution of the SOP as regards crowd control and called upon the Commissioner to immediately begin putting in place other best practices in respect of crowd control, the necessary corrective administrative and command control measures to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate turn of events of Tuesday, December 6.
The minister received detailed oral reports from all the players in the Force who were involved in monitoring the protest march up to the shooting of the rubber bullets and the arrest of some of the protestors.
From the reports received, it was clear that there was some misunderstanding on the part of the organisers of the march whether permission was granted or not granted for a march to take place. However, this misunderstanding, according to the police, was clarified by senior ranks on the ground who advised the organisers of the protest march that permission was not granted and therefore the need to postpone  the protest march and to resubmit a fresh application.   This was agreed but eventually reversed by the organisers themselves who then proceeded to form themselves in a manner aimed at continuing with the procession, knowing full well that permission was not granted.
The ministry wishes to state categorically that it has never been the intention of this Administration to prevent any organization, political, religious nor NGO from conducting peaceful processions in Guyana. It wishes to stress however, that such a right must be exercised within the meaning of the laws of Guyana.  Further, it is important to note that exercise of rights go with matching responsibilities. Section 5(1) Cap 16:03 of the Public Order Act of Guyana states:
“No person shall hold or take part in any public procession other than a funeral procession unless the permission in writing of the Chief Officer of Police has been first obtained.

The Act further states;
“Any person who desires to hold a public procession other than a funeral procession shall not less than forty-eight hours previous to the time at which he desires to hold the procession apply in writing to the Chief Officer of Police for permission to hold the procession. If the Chief Officer of Police grants permission he shall at the time order in writing the routes to be followed and the times during which the procession may pass along such routes and shall give any special orders which he may consider necessary in relation to such procession. Every person who holds or takes part in a procession shall conform to the orders of the Chief Officer of Police.
If the Chief Officer of Police refuses to grant permission for the holding of a public procession the person who has applied for such permission may appeal in writing against such refusal to the minister, and in such case the minister may give such directions to the Chief Officer of Police as he may think fit”.
The Ministry of Home Affairs wishes to state that had an appeal been received from the organisers of the march the unfortunate turn of events would have been avoided.
The minister was assured by the police that at no time was tear gas used against the protestors. It was agreed that had this been the case, just as media operatives were able to find and show on TV spent cartridges of the rubber bullets, in the same way empty tear smoke canisters would have been found and shown on TV.
The meeting agreed that this was clear mischief on the part of some media houses who mistook the scent from the discharge of the rubber bullets for tear smoke but did not have the decency to withdraw this blatant media concoction to allay fears and anxieties of the general public.
The minister informed the senior police ranks that shooting at the back of some protesters is inexplicable and unacceptable; this was another manifestation of bad judgement by the ranks on the ground and must never be repeated, they were told.
The minister advised the Senior Officers that he was of the view that there is a need to put in place new creative measures, particularly in respect of public  protest marches/processions. These include publishing notices in the daily newspapers and TV giving the name of the organizers; the date, time and route of the procession; publishing in the daily newspapers and TV the Laws of Guyana as regards public processions; and having meetings on the day before the procession between the Divisional Commander and Organisers to review the arrangements for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the procession.
In the same way that other public events are carried out in a peaceful manner, there is no reason why a public procession to protest or otherwise cannot be conducted in a similar peaceful manner, with the police doing its level best to ensure that peace and good order is maintained at all times.

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS