Police block protest march

-Vic Puran writes police for permission

Attorney-at-Law Vic Puran, acting on behalf of some East Coast Demerara residents, has applied to the police for permission to stage a protest march from Lusignan to the city.
This was after police, using tear gas, dispersed a crowd of protestors who were marching to the city yesterday.
Puran, who tried to dissuade the protestors from entering into a confrontation with the police during a brief stand off, stated in his letter that he was seeking permission for a peaceful walk in single file from Lusignan to Georgetown on Friday.

He assured the police that marshals will be provided and suggested that the police should determine the route.
Residents had assembled at Lusignan for the planned march to the city from as early as 08:30 hours.
However, the police advised them that it was illegal since no permission for the march was sought.
Some of the residents, among them women, then decided to board mini buses to travel to the city, but this move was thwarted by the police who stopped the vehicles and reportedly removed several protestors with placards.
This did not deter the protestors, who continued to proceed to the city.
They were, however, met at Triumph by a contingent of police ranks with riot gear who blocked their path to the city.
A police press release stated that the protestors had regrouped in the Mon Repos Market area at around 10:30 hours with the intention of staging a protest march.
According to the police, the crowd of about 150 persons was then spoken to by political activists Everall Franklin, Paul Hardy and Karen DeSouza, who also sought to get them to desist from going ahead with the march, but they were ignored.
The police said that a crowd of persons began to march west along the East Coast Public Road, causing traffic to be diverted to the Railway Embankment, and they wee stopped in the Triumph area by the police, who again informed them that the march was illegal.
A stand-off ensued, and it was then that Puran; PPP/C MP Neil Kumar, Director of Youth and Sports, and another prominent citizen attempted to dissuade the protestors from going to the city.
Another stand-off ensued for about 30 minutes, during which the police using a loud hailer warned the protestors several times to disperse and return to their homes, since they were impeding the free flow of traffic.
The warning was not heeded and the police were forced to fire tear smoke canisters into the crowd.
Several persons collapsed as a result of inhaling the fumes.
This newspaper understands that at least four persons were treated at the hospital, while some were arrested.