COPY-CATTING fears of terrorist attacks, the Guyana Police Force has enhanced security arrangements around the confines of Parliament Building which has now extended into several streets.
These cordons are now extended to Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic, and on the southern side to Leopold and Lombard Streets. This has resulted in severe traffic congestion.
The police in a press response to an article carried Thursday in the Stabroek News newspaper, under the caption: “Barriers shifted to keep protesters away from Parliament — Traffic Chief,” stated, “Please be advised that Traffic Chief Dion Moore is refuting claims that he told any reporter from Stabroek News or any other that the barriers around Parliament were in response to protesters.”
The statement further noted that “The Guyana Police Force wishes the public to know that the barriers were directly related to the security of Parliament. This enhanced security arrangement has a nexus to terrorists incidents occurring in various countries around the world, some of which are perpetrated by self-radicalised persons.”
In March, five people were killed and about 40 injured in London after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain’s parliament.