Sharma Solomon

Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon said that while some road obstructions are being removed ahead of the signing of an agreement with government, heavily armed security forces must first withdraw before all roads are cleared.

“The people have already started to open up some of the roads. The people have no need to block the roads but what we want is total de-militarization of the area from all the police and soldiers with their big guns,” he told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).

Sharma said residents in some areas are continuing to hold their ground until the initialled agreement is signed on Monday. In other areas, when obstructions are removed by security forces, they are not being replaced by residents.

It was not immediately clear when the security forces would give the all-clear for passenger and cargo vehicles to resume entry and exit of the interior through Linden.

He sought to convince Lindeners at a rally held on Saturday that the agreement contained their demands- no increase in electricity rates, opening of privately-owned television stations and the crafting of an economic development plan for Region 10.

Regions 7,8 and 9 have been starved off  adequate supplies of fuel, food and other supplies because trucks and other vehicles are unable to pass through Linden. Some have resorted to the more expensive route through the Bartica Potaro road or by plane.

Sparking off the one month old unrest in Linden was government’s insistence that residents and businesses in the town must pay steep electricity tariffs from July 1. Government has cited ever increasing oil prices, lack of conservation and the opening up new housing areas as reasons for increasing the cost of power.

However, Lindeners have argued that they are unable to pay more because of high unemployment and poverty in a town where the bauxite industry’s employment has declined from 5,000 persons in the 1970s to about 600 today.

With the killing of three persons and injuring of 20 others during clashes between police and protesters on July 18, the Region 10 Council expanded its demands to include other areas. Roads in Mackenzie and Wismar were blocked with felled trees, old vehicles and other objects