FIRES suspected to be caused by acts of arson in the wee hours of Friday destroyed a number of buildings in the Linden community. Buildings which perished are the Linden Salvation Council building and the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Church at Silvertown, Wismar; and a building at Washer Pond Road, Mackenzie which housed the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Office, together with buildings which housed the Linden Care Foundation Office, the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education, a canteen, and the Linden Electricity Company office were also destroyed.
Another building behind the office complex was similarly burnt.
Fires erupted in Christianburg, Wismar at about 02:30 hrs on Friday, August 10, completely destroying a building used by the Region 10 Farmers Association.
Tenders from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) were unable to reach the scene of the fire because of blockages placed along the roadway, but investigations are in progress, and police have arrested six persons.
Reports are that at about 02:10 hrs on Friday, August 10, ranks of the Joint Services observed that a fire, with the use of tyres, wood and other combustible materials, was set on the wooden portion of the Wismar end of the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge.
A crowd had gathered at the fire scene, and in efforts to have them removed to accommodate the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) personnel in efforts to extinguish the blaze, police were forced to resort to the use of tear smoke.
The crowd dispersed, and the fire was extinguished. The Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge is still in use, and the Joint Services are maintaining security there.
But later, at about 07:00 hrs that day, another crowd came across the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge from the Wismar end with the apparent intention of immobilizing a front-end loader that was parked on the Mackenzie side in the vicinity of the bridge.
Persons placed themselves on the roadway in front of the machine, but were eventually removed and the equipment was placed at another location.
Police have said that while ranks were dealing with the persons around the front-end loader, other persons, apparently from the crowd, set a fire which resulted in the destruction of the toll booth and the LINMINE security guard hut located at the Mackenzie end of the bridge.
Again, police said, efforts by the GFS personnel to get to the fire scene at the office complex were hampered by obstacles blocking the roadways, which also caused the destruction of the wheels of one of the fire-trucks.
The police have arrested and detained six men pending investigations into various offences.
Meanwhile, the Joint Services Coordinating Council yesterday said in a press release that there was no Joint Services’ operation to clear barriers in the early morning hours of Friday, August 10, 2012 at the western end of the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge.
The release added that, in fact, at approximately 02:20 hrs on Friday, August 10, 2012, protestors raised an alarm that the Joint Services were on their way to clear barriers, but that was not the case at all. As a result, protestors and supporters numbering 30, including women, stormed past the Joint Services Standing Patrol on the western end of the bridge and lit the bridge afire at the centre.
However, 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 had come out of their homes, and the situation deteriorated. The Joint Services did not escalate the situation at Linden.