APNU youth arm pickets GECOM  headquarters
THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) said that no permission was granted for the Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT), arm of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), to march in the city yesterday.
But the police said they are aware that a group of protestors were outside the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) headquarters in High Street, Kingston, Georgetown, on a picketing exercise, for which they did not have to get a permit.
APNU has been staging several ‘peaceful’ picketing exercises in which its supporters have held protests outside the homes of Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee; GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally and Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Gocool Boodoo.
APNU, on Sunday night, held a vigil outside Rohee’s residence, in protest of last week’s police shooting of peaceful protesters on Brickdam.
APNU Presidential Candidate, retired Brigadier David Granger, last week, called for a commission of inquiry into the alleged police brutality surrounding the use of rubber bullets.
He condemned the action and demanded punishment for the ranks who breached GPF regulations concerning the use of minimum force on internal security.
Several persons, including retired Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Chief of Staff Edward Collins and attorney-at-law James Bond were injured and pupils of St. Sidwell’s Primary School were also affected as Pplice fired on escaping demonstrators on December 6.
The procession, organised by the YCT, started at Square of the Revolution about 09:30hrs, with some 300, mainly young people and was aimed at calling on GECOM to release the Statements of Poll (SOP) from the November 28 General and Regional Elections.
GECOM, subsequently, in pursuance of a directive from its 349th Statutory Meeting on December 6, dispatched to the four political parties which contested the polls, the documented compilation of the results delineated on each of the relevant SoPs by District, and a DVD Rom, containing all of the SoPs for the entire 2,076 Polling Stations across Guyana, in PDF.
Meanwhile, after both the police hierarchy and Minister Rohee denied giving orders for the demonstrators to be shot at Collins, Bond and four other defendants appeared in court, charged with illegal marching.
Collins and Bond also faced a charge of speaking at a public meeting without permission but all of those who faced charges were released on their own recognisances until February 13, 2012.