AT ABOUT 02:10hrs yesterday, ranks of the Joint Services observed that a fire fuelled by tyres, wood and other combustible materials was set on the wooden portion at the Wismar end of the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge, according to a police report last evening. A crowd of persons had gathered at the scene and in efforts to have them remove so that Fire Service personnel could extinguish the blaze; the police were forced to resort to the use of tear smoke.
The crowd was dispersed and the fire extinguished. The Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge is still in use and the Joint Services are maintaining security there.
Later, at about 07:00hrs, a crowd of persons came across the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge from the Wismar end, with the apparent intention of immobilizing a front-end-loader that was parked in the vicinity of the bridge on the Mackenzie side. Persons placed themselves on the roadway in front of the machine, but were eventually removed and the equipment was removed to another location.
Police said that while they were dealing with the persons around the front-end-loader, some others set fire to toll booth and the LINMINE security guard hut located at the Mackenzie end of the bridge.
Then a spate of fires erupted, and a number of buildings were destroyed. These included the Linden Salvation Council building and the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Church at Silvertown, Wismar, and buildings at Washer Pond Road, Mackenzie, which housed the Guyana Revenue Authority Office, the Linden Care Foundation Office, the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education, a canteen, and the Linden Electricity Company office. Another building behind the office complex was also burnt.
Police added that efforts by the GFS personnel to get to the scene of the fire at the office complex were hampered by obstacles blocking the roadways, and which also destroyed the wheels of one of the fire tenders.
Six men have been arrested by the police pending investigations into various offences and are in police custody.
Meanwhile, the Joint Services Coordinating Council in a press release yesterday said that there was no Joint Services operation to clear barriers in the early morning hours yesterday at the western end of the Wismar bridge.
It added that at approximately 02:20hrs, protestors raised an alarm that the Joint Services were on their way to clear barriers, but that was not true. As a result, about 30 protestors, including women, stormed past the Joint Services standing patrol on the western end of the bridge and lit the bridge afire at the centre.
The Joint Services Standing Patrol summoned the Police and the Fire Service. The Police cleared the protestors using tear smoke and the Fire Service put out the fire. By the time the fire was out, more residents came out of their homes and the situation deteriorated. The Joint Services did not provoke the situation at Linden, the release said.