Lawmen take control of Linden

By Utamu Belle

The Linden community appears to be one step away from normalcy with the clearing of major roads and bridges in an organised campaign by members of the Joint Services, after being completely shut down by demonstrators protesting an electricity tariff increase since January 18.

After two failed attempts, another removal campaign has resulted in roadblocks which had been set up at both Mackenzie and Wismar, including the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway, Amelia’s Ward, Kara Kara, the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge, the Winifred Gaskin Highway and One Mile being cleared.
Ranks have maintained their presence throughout these areas as over the past weeks as demonstrators had managed to re-institute large logs and debris as soon as they were removed.
Protestors at One Mile, Wismar, on Monday evening continued to put up a resistance against the clearing of roads which reportedly resulted in confrontations with ranks. During the clearing of blockades, demonstrators gathered in large numbers shouting blasphemies and even hurled bricks and bottles at ranks, which resulted in them discharging several rounds into the air to disperse the unruly gathering.
When Guyana Times International visited the area on Tuesday, ranks were stationed at points where roadblocks had been set up, with most of the debris removed. Ranks had also maintained a strong presence in an effort to ensure that the community returns to a state of normalcy by setting up camps along the highway, Washer Pond Road and the eastern end of the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge.
With the removal of road blocks, traffic is now traversing throughout the community and persons can now move freely to and from the capital city, Georgetown, and access interior locations without hindrances.
The unrest had over the past three weeks caused businesses to be closed with the effects of roadblocks being felt the in neighbouring Regions Seven, Eight and Nine and throughout the country.
However, at one of many meetings held in the mining town on Tuesday to update residents on issues surrounding the Linden unrest, Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon told residents that Linden will never return to a state of normalcy since three lives were lost and many injured since the protests started on July 18.
“Things are not going to be the same for Ivan Lewis’s children, it is not going to be the same for people who lost their legs and eyes, it is not going to be the same because people died,” he said.
Solomon further urged residents to continue with the struggle, noting that there will be “no retreat and no surrender”, a position that was reiterated by A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon.
He further spoke of the right of freedom of information, which he noted is lacking in the community. “Don’t let nobody tell you about normalcy, because normalcy is like going back to one television station, normalcy is like going back to 70 per cent unemployment,” he reiterated to the gathering.
He encouraged Lindeners to protest in a respectable manner while condemning acts of violence in their community.
“As Guyanese, we will act in a manner that is dictated by our Constitution which says we should demonstrate and protest,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said that government’s expenditures in the community of Linden have been incontestable in the areas of health, education, water and particularly in the efforts to resuscitate the bauxite industry, thereby dispelling the notion that Linden is a depressed community.
On a television programme, “Under the Microscope”, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said “a number of commentators have been feeding people in Linden and elsewhere that this government is discriminatory against people of African descent, whose support are more for the PNC.”
Prime Minister Hinds said the mid-1970s, the bauxite industry has been operating at a loss and, several years after, the external manager had said that the industry should be closed since they could not have devised ways to make it viable any longer.