CRICKET Carnival parade revelers and patrons could expect to see heavy police presence on Sunday, not only along the parade route, but all across Georgetown, Divisional Commander of Division Four A, Simon McBean, has said.

The curtains comes down on the much celebrated “Cricket Carnival” on Sunday, with a massive road parade that is expected to involve five floats, 10 trucks and over 2,300 revelers, not to mention the massive crowd that will come out to line the roadways and view the spectacle.

With such a huge event, McBean said the police will be out in full force, to ensure that the event comes to a safe close with no major incidents.
“My entire division will be involved in the activity and that is a strength is about 600 officers, so we will be providing adequate coverage. Areas will be sectioned, and we will have adequate police presence in each sector.

Along Vlissengen Road, Seawall Road and all other areas that we have parade activities those will be manned by police on foot patrol, while across the wider Georgetown we will have intensified police vehicular patrols,” he related.

McBean noted that he has held several meetings with the Cricket Carnival organising committee, including a walkthrough of the event area last Wednesday. As is customary, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will be providing all the security and traffic arrangement for the parade.

With the massive amount of persons expected to be out on the roads, McBean said: “Our biggest risk going into this event, which we are looking at, is crowd management issues, because we have to ensure persons attending the activity are safe. We have be on the lookout for street crimes and that’s a bit challenging… also because we are in a well populated area these things are prevalent at activities like this.”

He said, however, “I just want people to come out and enjoy themselves in a safe environment. Look out for your own security and that will help us provide a safe and secure environment for this float parade.”
Sunday’s parade is scheduled to start at Main and Church Streets, moving east down Church Street, before turning north into Irving Street and ending at the Kitty Seawall Roundabout, where a concert will be held.

Vending spots have already been marked out and allocated all along Vlissengen Road, which runs parallel to Irving Street. According to McBean, the policing traffic plan for the event will see vehicular access to Vlissengen road being closed off at 06:00 hours to facilitate vendors commencing the setting up of their stalls.

Vlissengen Road will partially reopen, from Church Street to Thomas Lands, at 19:00 hours. Vlissengen Road, from Thomas Lands to the Kitty Seawall Roundabout will remain closed for the remainder of the event.
Meanwhile, as part of traffic management along the route, McBean noted that closure of vehicular access to Church Street will commence at 09:00 hours, with incremental opening of adjoining streets after the entire parade completely passes the street.

At 15:00 hours in the vicinity of the roundabout, all movement of traffic will be closed off, with no vehicular traffic being allowed west of Kitty Public Road from Alexander Street, and no vehicles being allowed east along Carifesta Avenue from Camp Street.

Like Vlissengen Road, Seawall Road will be closed off from 06:00 hours, however, that road will remain closed to vehicular traffic for the entirety of the event.
“Just pedestrian traffic will be allowed through there,” McBean said, adding: “We will police the area from Church Street to the Seawall throughout the day. Police will be there on patrol for any crowd management issues, and to deal with all policing issues in that area.”

He is confident that the police have done enough to deal with any congestion along the way.
“It’s a Sunday so it’s not a day that attracts a huge amount of traffic. So, traffic will use alternative roads. Sheriff Street, Mandela Avenue, Homestretch Avenue and other areas will be used for persons coming in and out of Georgetown,” McBean said.