– attempt to burn supermarket reported; witness recounts gunfire at truck

Burning debris again disrupted traffic at Vigilance yesterday as unrest continued along the East Coast Demerara, with reports of an attempt to set a Chinese supermarket on fire following Tuesday’s roadblocks and truck fire.

In a traffic advisory posted at 5.06 pm yesterday on its Radio Eve Leary Facebook page, the Guyana Police Force advised persons to avoid the affected area unless travel was absolutely necessary.

Reports reaching Kiskadee Watch indicated that persons used bottled water to extinguish flames during the reported attempt to burn the supermarket. That incident was not addressed in the traffic advisory.

The advisory, accompanied by a photograph and a short video, said traffic ranks, supported by anti-crime police, were working to facilitate the safe movement of motorists and maintain access through the area.

Motorists were urged to reduce speed, remain alert and obey police instructions. The force also warned persons against stopping, gathering or obstructing the roadway and encouraged parents and guardians to keep children away.

There has been no statement on the unrest from the government or the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The renewed unrest followed police action which Kiskadee Watch understands was connected to the disappearance of Surinamese men Siegiëllo Lorenzo Van Dalen, 27, and Derryl Danillo Bont, 28.

According to information reaching this publication, tensions escalated on Tuesday when police attempted to search the residence of US-sanctioned Mark Cromwell. Investigators were reportedly pursuing information that the men had been seen in a vehicle registered to his wife.

Police have not publicly confirmed that account or addressed reports that Cromwell’s wife and brother had been arrested in connection with the disappearance.

Meanwhile, a woman who was passing through the area on Tuesday with her two young children described seeing a masked gunman firing at the truck and into the air.

Speaking yesterday morning, she said two masked men were involved, one waiting on a motorcycle while the other moved around with a gun. She estimated that the gunman came within about five feet of the car in which she and relatives were travelling.

The woman said she began screaming and feared he would turn his weapon towards their vehicle. The driver remained calm, she said. 

Her children were “completely traumatised”, while a cousin who was also in the car with his son later told her that his legs were still trembling.

“It was a dangerous situation for those of us that were literally caught there at the wrong time,” she said, calling for a police response.

In its statement on Tuesday’s incidents, police said ranks were proceeding to a location at Vigilance at about 4.40 pm in connection with an ongoing investigation when they encountered access points blocked with burning tyres, wood and other debris.

The Guyana Fire Service was summoned, but persons hurled debris at firefighters and continued adding combustible materials to the fires, police said.

Ranks subsequently responded to a report that a sand truck along the Railway Embankment at Buxton had been set alight. They found extensive fire damage to its front cabin, and the Fire Service extinguished the blaze, according to the statement.

Police also reported that several loud explosions, suspected to be gunshots, were heard shortly before the truck was observed on fire. Nearby CCTV footage would be reviewed, the force said.

The release stated that no arrests had been made in relation to those incidents. It did not clarify the separate reports of arrests connected to the missing men.

At the time of Kiskadee Watch’s initial report on Tuesday’s unrest, questions in the Joint Services WhatsApp group had received no response and no police release had been issued.

Van Dalen and Bont have been missing since late August. In a September 9 notice, Surinamese police said they left their homes on August 28 in a white Toyota Vitz and travelled to Nickerie. The following day, they left the vehicle at Clara sluis and crossed to Guyana by boat between 11 am and 1 pm, subsequently entering a taxi believed to have been a black station wagon. 

An initial September 2 report by Waterkant had quoted Bont’s family as saying they last heard from him on Saturday morning, after which his telephone was switched off. They believed two friends who had been with him were also unreachable.

That report said the family became more concerned after his vehicle was found at Clara Sluis. Their belief that he had crossed to Guyana was described as unconfirmed at that stage.

In a September 15 account of an interview with D-TV Express, Waterkant reported that the men’s mothers appealed for urgent steps to obtain footage from Guyana’s Safe City camera system. 

The women said their sons had gone away for a weekend and contacted them from Nickerie. One had sent a Saturday-morning message explaining that he could no longer take his mother shopping because he was in Nickerie. The other had said he would return on Sunday because he had work on Monday.

According to the mothers, relatives travelled to Guyana and lodged a report at Springlands Police Station. They also said the Toyota Vitz had been recovered and was with police.

They appealed to the foreign affairs and justice ministers, the embassy and Guyanese authorities for assistance. “We are not asking for money,” one mother said, according to Waterkant’s account, translated from Dutch.

Surinamese police said several persons in Paramaribo and Nickerie had been questioned, the Public Prosecution Service had been informed, and arrangements for a joint investigation with Guyanese authorities were being explored. They also clarified that they had no information supporting early reports of a third missing person. 

NDP parliamentarian Ebu Jones also raised the matter in Suriname’s parliament, asking what assistance the government had provided and whether further information had been requested from Guyana.