Those responsible for attack on GPSU building will be dealt with -- Dr Hussein by Robert Bazil Guyana Chronicle June 28, 1999 PERSONS responsible for Wednesday night's damage to the headquarters of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), will feel the full measure of the law, first Vice President, Dr Anwar Hussein has warned. He declared in a recent interview with the Chronicle: "Once the information comes to us we are going to turn it over to the Police...we will assist the Police a hundred per cent on this." Hussein reiterated that the Union will also hand over to the Police information on persons it suspects were responsible. Asked whether this may include members and non-members, he maintained: "We have no sympathy for those who are bent on being destructive to members' property and breaking the law." The official stated that it is "not nice nor acceptable" when some persons can actually tamper with the minds of a few of the membership and allow them to be destructive. "It will not be permitted; they will be exposed before the entire membership, and if they are involved in those criminal activities we will certainly encourage the Police to take full action," he added. The trouble erupted Wednesday night after word spread that the GPSU had signed a terms of resumption agreement with the Government ending the almost two-month public sector strike. Scores of striking public servants turned violent outside the GPSU headquarters on Regent and New Garden Streets. They tried to block Union President, Mr Patrick Yarde and other executives from leaving the building. Shortly after 19:30 hours, several persons in the upper flat of the Union hall began streaming out with their faces covered with rags and pieces of their clothing. Hussein remarked that it is sad that with 11,240 members willing to work and trust their leadership, a few persons were prepared to do damage to the members' property; to pick up whatever they can put their hands on and threaten the lives of the leadership. Hussein said that the executives of the Union were in the building after hearing that persons had malicious intentions, and they had to be careful that innocent members were not harmed. "I saw one particular person with broken furniture in his hand - members' property - we look at this very seriously," he said. He recalled that there were some uninvited guests in the building at one stage. These people broke some windows and threatened members at the Union hall. Earlier in the day, seven Molotov cocktails (bottle bombs) were discovered in the GPSU compound and the Police were called in. Hussein told the Chronicle that executives did not take any chances, and security was beefed up with several operatives the Union had. Then somebody reported that there was someone with a bomb in the building, and it was eventually proved that it was a noxious smoke device which was used with the hope of damaging the building, he said. "In one instance, they threw a bomb and in another they were hoping to injure persons with this device," he said, adding that he advised the membership of the information he had received, and they proceeded to leave the building. He was surprised when a particular group of people - mostly non-members - was trying to keep the membership in the building. Other persons who realised that lives were at risk assisted the executives in getting out. A few minutes later, the building was stoned, windows were broken, and one man came and placed a noxious substance in the building and left. "We heard persons saying that if anyone attempted to leave building to escape the fumes, they would be killed. We called in the Police and asked for assistance to secure the building," Dr Hussein told the Chronicle. The GPSU official claimed that in full view of everyone, a man was breaking one window after the other from inside the building. This man has not been arrested as yet. Some persons on the road outside were saying "Come down and we will kill you today!", while others were saying "You murder us, we will murder you!". "I had to ask a few persons who were prepared to act as a human shield to get Mr Yarde out of the hall," Hussein said, noting that when Yarde left he was attacked by a mob including a man with a knife. Stating that he had made other security arrangements to exit the Union hall after it was secured, the GPSU official was confident that the mob obviously had intentions to commit crimes and harm members and other persons. He also denied being the driver of the `Yarde' getaway vehicle, or even being near the mini-bus, which knocked down one of the protesters as it sped away from the GPSU compound. Hussein emphasised that a report in a section of the media was damaging to the Union and to him as a professional, because it suggested that, as a doctor, he was in a vehicle that knocked down a person and drove away. He charged that the accusations were malicious, intentional and were done to discredit him and create the impression that the executives were fighting the membership. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples