The police and the Regional Educational Officer (REO) in Berbice were yesterday forced to issue statements on the television to quell rumours of student kidnappings after parents started removing their children from schools.

Early yesterday morning as Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice residents took to the streets to protest in solidarity with the Lusignan community, rumours of kidnappings, shooting and fires spread across Regions Five and Six.

Commander of ‘B’ Division Clinton Conway placed a notice on three Region Six television stations stating that the police had received no reports of kidnappings and that all such stories were false. Some time after 1 pm, REO Shafiran Bhajan issued a statement on the National Communications Network, Channel 15, assuring parents that reports of kidnappings were untrue.

In her statement Bhajan said that on hearing rumours of kidnappings, several parents had called head teachers demanding their children. She said that the more experienced teachers had reported that the matter was under control, though some parents had taken their children out of schools. Bhajan said others had gone during the recess period and removed their children.

Bhajan emphasised that the rumours had no substance and that they had spread from the West Coast Berbice. She added that her colleagues in that region had also assured her that no child had been kidnapped. Bhajan assured parents that all the stories they were hearing were baseless and that schools were going to continue as usual. In conclusion she said children’s education and their safety are priorities and that parents need not be alarmed.

In an invited comment, Bhajan told Stabroek News that she had called some of the secondary schools in New Amsterdam and had instructed them not to release any student unless their parents came with identification and signed that they were taking their children.

Meanwhile, Region Six Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha told Stabroek News that he was aware of the situation and had suggested that Bhajan make the televised statement as parents were calling for the school day’s session to be closed earlier than the scheduled time.

One parent from Skeldon said that her children were sent home from school and that they told her that the police ensured that they got safely into a Tapir (van) to be taken home.

She said she had heard that a primary school had burned down; that there had been a shooting at another school and that four students had been kidnapped. She added that one of the schools called for parents to take their children home. The woman said she was later told that the stories were not true.

In New Amsterdam, this newspaper was told that some schools sent home students who lived on the West Coast Berbice. While on the West Coast, parents rushed to schools to remove their children. One teacher said parents went into one of the schools in a panic demanding their children saying that they heard children had been kidnapped from other schools. This newspaper was told that as the rumours spread, within 30 minutes parents had collected their children, leaving only the teachers in the building.

This newspaper understands that some of the West Coast Berbice schools affected after parents removed their children are Ithaca Primary School, the Cotton Tree nursery and primary schools and the Number Eight Primary School. Some schools were forced to close.

Commander Conway said that the rumours had spread from the West Coast Berbice all the way to Corriverton on the Corentyne.

The notice informing parents about the rumours was aired repeatedly on all three television stations in Berbice throughout the afternoon after the school session would have ended. (Keisha McCammon)