Tuesday’s events along the East Coast are illustrative of a number of issues. The first inevitably relates to the competence of the police, but there is also the matter of the power of fake news propagated on social media; the irresponsibility of some of our MPs elected to represent us; the impotence of the authorities in such situations; and the inherent instability of the society.
The story starts with the fatal shooting of Quindon Bacchus by a policeman in the course of an undercover operation which is alleged to have gone awry. As is unfortunately often the case, the police press release giving an account of the killing was a model of obscurantism. The alleged perpetrator was nevertheless placed under close arrest and the matter handed over to the Police Complaints Authority for investigation.
A lack of trust in both the police and the political authorities had led to protests, but these were peaceful. What changed the whole tenor of the situation turning it into one of violence was the inexplicable claim made on social media that the alleged shooter had been released from custody. This was totally untrue, because the man was still under arrest, but broadcasting an obviously deceitful statement apparently did not cause an online entity called the Guyana Daily News any qualms. If nothing else it is a lesson for the government which is obsessed about the print media, but which does not seem to be fully cognizant of the danger presented by social media platforms from which the younger generation particularly derives its news.
President Irfaan Ali, via his Facebook page, exhorted residents not to be misled by any social media posting or information which was not verified, while for its part the Guyana Press Association warned the public about social media platforms which claimed the status of independent news organisations, “particularly in the face of unrest and instability”. It did not recognise the Guyana Daily News as a bona fide news organisation, it said, “within the strict meaning of the term and with regard to basic journalistic obligations.”
The problem is that the average member of the public has no means of distinguishing what is a ‘bona fide’ media operator and a sham one, and in the circumstances of total mistrust which obtain among what might be termed the opposition constituency, there will be a predisposition to believe the worst in a situation such as this, whatever is said to the contrary by reputable authorities. It will not have escaped the attention of those living along the coast either that Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton was followed by the police after he visited the home of Mr Bacchus’s relatives, which might have suggested to some that the police were trying intimidation tactics because they had something to hide.
In any event, the President’s efforts to calm the situation probably made little impact, although he entreated residents to go home and clear the roadways. “All of us want justice, all of us want fairness,” we reported him as saying, “but we cannot base our action on misleading information.” Later he visited Buxton and had a discussion with residents where he told them that the investigation would soon reach completion and that if the policeman involved was found culpable he would face the consequences. Rational argument in cases where the political source is not trusted by the audience unfortunately will face a challenge to make headway.
There has been no substantial comment from APNU, but while one assumes they will condemn police actions, they should not ignore the violence directed against the vendors of Mon Repos market in particular. In a general sense the public assumption is that those who resorted to violence would have fallen into the category of APNU supporters. The party simply cannot be seen to condone such action on the part of those perceived by many as its own constituents, particularly given its history.
The one coalition politician who did come to public notice was the ever imprudent APNU+AFC MP Sherod Duncan. He was filming on the picket line and broadcast on his Facebook page a man threatening to assassinate the President. In the first place it is indefensible that this should have been put online at all, moreso by a member of Parliament, and in the second, even if he mistakenly wanted to justify his decision, he did not issue any form of public reprimand to the man or apology to his audience.
President Ali said that he would be asking Parliament to pass a unanimous resolution decrying political violence and threats of assassination. “[I]n order to build one Guyana for all, we must speak with one voice that threats of political violence and assassination will not be tolerated in our democratic society,” he said. There is no problem with this and one would expect the opposition to give its full support to such a resolution.
What really needs to happen, however, is that either the coalition as a whole, or the AFC in particular, should sanction Mr Duncan. He is, after all, the latter’s General Secretary, and it is nothing short of a disgrace that he should have posted the footage. This is a democracy and those who represent us should by their public behaviour convey their commitment to the rule of law. If the AFC/coalition takes no action against Mr Duncan then they will be contaminated by his irresponsibility and the implications which go with that. Inevitably the President said that the threat would be the subject of an investigation by the police.
The commonplace element in all of this is the Guyana Police Force. In fact, the whole episode seemed like a replay of any number of protests we have had over the years. It started modestly enough at Golden Grove, but then swelled to about three hundred there, and collected more adherents as it moved down the coast. At various points the road was blocked and debris set on fire.
One would have thought that the police would have acquired plenty of experience in crowd control down the decades, but they behaved as if they only had untrained officers at their disposal to deploy. And just what were their senior officers doing? There is only one major corridor down to Georgetown, and so the route taken by protestors is very familiar. Since they have plenty experience of East Coast protests, what contingency plans did the hierarchy of the Force have in place to deal with such eventualities?
How on earth do they explain the fact that at Golden Grove they fired rubber bullets indiscriminately, so they injured not just protestors but those going about their daily business, including this newspaper’s Assistant Editor who was with her ten-year-old son. What were the instructions given to the armed police before they went out at Golden Grove, and did they follow standard operating procedures? Who gave them the order to fire rubber bullets, and were they given directions as to where to direct them?
And then there is Mon Repos, the worst instance of robberies and violence along the coast.
Market vendors were beaten, robbed and had their stalls smashed yet there were simply no police to be found, and the perpetrators were allowed to act with total impunity.
The senior officers of the Force know very well how these kinds of protest sometimes develop; if they are big enough and mobile enough they will in some circumstances attract criminal or semi-criminal elements. The tell-tale pointer is the bicycles and motorcycles whose riders could be seen with masks and coverings on their faces while they carted away what they had looted.
Various eyewitnesses told this newspaper that the two police who were there ran away and others that they had called the BV police who did not come. Minister Robeson Benn when he arrived could give no account of why the police were notable by their absence, and the senior ranks of the Force who were with him had nothing to say. President Ali’s personal choice as acting Police Commissioner, Mr Clifton Hicken has not had a stellar incumbency so far, but this latest fiasco for the GPF requires some investigation.
The vendors in conjunction with other residents of Mon Repos also held their own protest, and when the President arrived in the company of Commissioner Hicken he encountered some very angry people. He promised that he was going to come to the community for a meeting and they would work together to strengthen community policing and intelligence gathering to prevent a recurrence. It did not go down well. He should recognise that the onus for the safety of the community is not on its members, but on the GPF, which has failed dismally in this instance.
The President did say that those responsible for criminality would be brought to justice, and yesterday sixteen men were charged. He also promised the vendors compensation, an exercise which we reported yesterday had already begun.
The least that can be concluded from all of this is that true reform of the Police Force is still a long way off.
