– says police sergeant who was brutally beaten and chopped by PPP Protesters

By Nafeeza Yahya
POLICE Sergeant, Punit Ibaran, 42, of East Berbice Corentyne and stationed at the Blairmont Police Station in West Berbice, is thankful for being alive following a life-threatening experience with
protesters in the village of Cotton Tree Friday evening.

Ibaran and a group of his fellow lawmen were attacked by an unruly mob of PPP supporters that left him with both his arms broken, a chop wound to the back of his head, a chop wound to his arm, a cut to the ear as well as several bruises and lacerations about the body. Speaking from his bed in the New Amsterdam Hospital, Sergeant Ibaran told the Guyana Chronicle that he was on duty as was all the other ranks trying to maintain law and order, when the angry mob turned their attention to the police and started a brutal onslaught on the lawmen with cutlasses and other missiles that were hurled at them.
This, he said started on the public road and he along with others ran into the streets hoping to seek refuge in the yards of residents, but the mob followed him and started to hit him about the body with

cutlasses, iron bars and pieces of wood. Ibaran who joined the force some 25 years ago, related that he and the other ranks were unarmed at the time and were at the mercy of the mob that dealt them “tremendous blows”.

DRUNK PROTESTERS

“They were drinking and started to behave lawlessly and started to attack us, we ran and jumped over fences to escape them but they followed and started to broadside and chop me. We were unarmed and all we could do was block with our hands and try to avoid being hit in the head…I thought I was going to die and they suddenly left me and turned to someone else and I begged a man to let me in his yard or
they were going to kill me.”

The father of two continued, stating that he hid in the yard, praying and trying to bear the excruciating pains about his body, until the mob left. He finally came out bloodied, and saw a detective passing that he shouted out to. The rank and a public citizen took him on a bicycle to his car which was parked nearby and eventually to the hospital along with other injured ranks and a protester.

Reflecting on the events of the day, he described the scene as one of “lawlessness” where the protestors were uncontrollable and setting alight pretty much everything insight while using bottles, bricks and any piece of debris as missiles to attack the police and others including students, nurses and even members of the media.

In the aftermath, two other officers were seriously injured: Roy Grant and Jefta Fraser, both traffic officers from Division Five, while three students were treated and sent away after the protestors attacked a David ‘G’ school bus they were in. A protestor was shot dead by police as he was attacking and chopping an unarmed rank in a street that was trying to get to safety. The two traffic ranks were treated and discharged a little after noon on Saturday, while Ibaran remains hospitalised.

Meanwhile, there were three ranks in East Berbice Corentyne, including Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and a sergeant, who suffered a fractured foot while the constable received injuries after he was stoned by protesters at Tain. Both ranks had to seek medical attention. The injured lawmen and students were visited by Minister of Youth Affairs Simona Broomes; Deputy Police Commissioner, Maxine Graham; Division Six Commander, Calvin Brutus, and Division Five Commander, Yonette Stephens. On Saturday, a number of Ibaran’s colleagues also paid a visit to show solidarity and offer comfort. A stranger, who was visiting a relative in the said ward, after realising that the injured sergeant was in the ward, went over to him and thanked him for his service as well as wishing him a speedy recovery. On Saturday, communities along the Corentyne Coast were

calm as majority of stores opened for business.