GPSU hall wrecked
By Courtney Jones
Opposition to the terms of resumption ending the 55-day strike, by what public service union leaders described as "misguided elements", took a vicious twist on Wednesday with two attempts to destroy Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) headquarters. As word spread that government and the unions had signed the agreement ending the strike, the crowd that had built up at the New Garden and Regent streets headquarters, started pelting the building forcing staff to take refuge in the auditorium. Some members of the crowd who went back to GPSU headquarters yesterday morning told Stabroek News that the pelting started after staff started taunting them from the windows of the building. The siege continued until, according to reports, GPSU President, Patrick Yarde, and First Vice-President, Dr Anwar Hussein, accompanied by bodyguards, sneaked through the Regent Street entrance of the building into a waiting white nine-seater mini bus. There are conflicting reports about what happened next. Some reports said that the mini bus headed in the direction of Vlissengen Road, turned around and sped west along Regent Street with its headlights dimmed causing people to scatter out of its path. Nineteen-year-old Paul Matland of North Ruimveldt was allegedly hit in the process. He is now a patient at the Georgetown hospital with lacerations about his body and a suspected fracture of his left arm. When this newspaper arrived on the scene there was still blood on the road and on the parapet. Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses, two police traffic patrolmen keeping station at the junction, sped after the mini bus, but returned shortly afterwards. This newspaper understands that the passengers in the bus changed vehicles and Yarde and Hussein soon after passed the crowd in a white car. According to eyewitnesses, this incident triggered an even more violent response from the crowd who began to pelt the building in earnest and began removing chairs from the lower flat of the building. A union staffer estimated that about 30 chairs were missing. In fact, the staffer said, earlier yesterday a truck was seen passing union headquarters with some of the chairs. It was around this time, about 9:00 pm, that the second attempt to destroy the building was made. According to a source, a lone man broke into the GPSU building and threw a number of "channa bombs" into the top flat. The resulting fire scorched parts of the registry section of the building and was only put out by the frantic efforts of two union employees who were hiding in the building. At about 11:00 pm, after police action had dispersed the crowd outside the GPSU headquarters, this newspaper saw the top flat of the building in complete disarray with furniture upturned and windows throughout the building including those in Yarde's office broken. Police bomb experts, who were on the scene when Stabroek News arrived, found a tear gas container which was still exuding highly noxious fumes in the male toilet of the upper flat. Yarde and union consultant Ramon Gaskin who had just arrived at the union building were shocked at the extent of the damage. Earlier on Wednesday, while the GPSU General Council was still discussing the terms of resumption prior to voting, seven Molotov cocktails were found under a water tank in the southern side of the building by security guards. Yarde told Stabroek News on Wednesday that the seven petrol-filled bottles with wicks, were in a place from where they could have been thrown in the building to cause maximum damage. Yarde threatened that all those responsible for the damage to the union headquarters would be called to account for their action. The GPSU president said that it was obvious that some people including union members were using the signing of the terms of reference to create mischief as part of a "nefarious agenda aimed at toppling the leadership of the union even though the majority of members were satisfied with the agreement." But sources told this newspaper that it was the union leadership including Yarde, General Secretary Lawrence Mentis and Dr Hussein who were on trial not the agreement. "We feel that other people could have sold the agreement to the members without a fraction of the turmoil we have experienced in the union since Monday," a source said. The source added that the whole affair had to do with the way the union was managed, adding that the leadership was hamstrung by a lack of communication regarding vital issues dealing with the wages negotiations filtering down to union members. "The whole affair has cast serious doubts, even among those persons who returned to work, about the leadership of the union," the source said. Union executives could not be contacted yesterday and information reaching Stabroek News indicated that the office closed early after attempts by staff to clear up some of the debris in the building. Meanwhile, a statement from the government regarding the end of the strike commended the critical role played by civil society in breaking the impasse. The statement, released through the Information Ministry, noted that the airport, electricity and water services remained operational and that government maintained essential services including the ferry crossings "through the initiative of the Civil Defence Commission." It also praised the army for its contribution describing this as dedicated and disciplined. The statement also expressed the nation's appreciation for the "patriotic contributions" of people at various sectors especially medical personnel who, in spite of "barricades and physical assaults from protesters," rendered essential services at the government hospitals. It noted that while the parties in the dispute have agreed to ending the strike a "small extremist group seems bent on an escalation of terror and violence." The government statement said the deployment of gasolene bombs in the premises of the GPSU constituted a "sinister attempt" by dissident elements to derail the resolution of difference by peaceful means. Stating that it had exercised tremendous patience in the national interest and had not surrendered to terror, the statement said that the administration will not condone threats against union leaders or attacks on the GPSU headquarters. 
|