East Bank Demerara : Just after 4:00pm today a large number of persons gathered on the roadway and threw tyres and other obstacles across both carriageways of the East Bank Demerara road at Agricola and set them on fire, causing traffic traversing the roadway to come to a standstill..
Bricks, bottles and other articles were thrown at the police ranks who initially responded to the incident and other ranks were mobilized along with personnel from the Guyana Fire Service.
The unruly crowd, some of whom were armed with pieces of wood and cutlasses, blocked the Guyana Fire Service vehicles from getting to the location of the burning tyres and other materials despite pleas from the Joint Services personnel.
The police continued to plead with the crowd and also employed the use of the water canon to disperse them, which was not sufficiently effective, and consequently resorted to the use of tear smoke.
Later, police ranks and Fire Service personnel managed to extinguish the burning tyres and other debris and are presently removing obstacles that had been thrown along both carriageways of the road.
A motor vehicle was also set on fire during the protest.
Traffic is flowing along the western carriageway while efforts are continuing to clear the eastern carriageway.
TrakkerNews received reports that several persons were badly beaten as night fall and one incident of a young man chopped several parts about the body.
Thousands of persons are left stranded who lived across the West Coast of Demerara and the East Bank of Demerara.
The protest stemmed after word spread that police officers who were detained for questioning in the shooting of a 19 year old in the troubled village of Agricola a few weeks ago were getting preferential treatment. Some say Cabinet Secretary disclosed today that Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee will not step down in wake of the police killings recently triggered the Agricola protest.
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