Police stop APNU protesters on East Bank
LINDEN supporters of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), who were travelling to Georgetown yesterday morning to join with others already protesting in the city, were stopped by police at Providence on the East Bank of Demerara. The plan by the Lindeners was snarled when the four minibuses in which they were in had to stop on police orders because they had no conductors.
Reports reaching the Guyana Chronicle indicated that the drivers of the vehicles were taken into custody and their licences seized.
The Police action met with strong objection from the APNU supporters who resorted to staging a protest in front of the station compound, which also houses the Providence Magistrate’s Court that was in session.
One protester, who spoke with reporters on the scene, said APNU supporters were on their way to Congress Place, Sophia in Georgetown and that individual, like several others, believed that the police were instructed by the authorities to stop the minibuses.
In their green APNU t-shirts, protesters, angry at the holding of the bus drivers, chanted: “All the time we accepting this…”
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was ridiculed by the protesters who complained to the media about several issues affecting the Linden community, including no access to any television stations except the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN).
APNU’s Aubrey Norton told reporters that the incident was a clear manifestation of the abuse of power by the government.
He said the people were travelling to Georgetown in a private capacity when the “instructed” police stopped them and arrested their drivers. “The political trumped-up charge was that the buses had no conductors.”
Norton declared no one is supposed to be locked up for minor offences, insisting that none was committed in this instance.
“This is violation of law,” he contended.
All the Officer-in-Charge could tell him, Norton disclosed, was that she needed to seek advice. To this, he said, he agreed but not to the fact that he could not stand in the station compound.
Norton argued that it is a public place from where the officer asked him to leave.
Meanwhile, in Georgetown, police opened fire with rubber bullets and teargas on APNU supporters who staged a march along Brickdam without required permission.
A number of persons were arrested and injured, including attorney-at-law James Bond and retired Brigadier Edward Collins. Students and teachers were, reportedly, affected by the teargas and had to be taken for medical treatment.