Teen protester killed by Police in Guyana

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC)– The police in Guyana have confirmed that an 18-year-old was shot and killed on Friday evening after he reportedly attacked two police officers with a cutlass.

The police say Seedat Hansraj of Cotton Tree village on the West Coast Berbice, had earlier participated in protests by opposition People’ Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) supporters demanding that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) issue the  results of Monday’s regional and general elections.

Both the PPP/C and the incumbent coalition, A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU), have both claimed victory in the elections.

In a statement, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said that at about 7:40 pm on Friday, while officers were performing their duties at Cotton Tree Public Road, they were attacked by protesters.

The GPF said moments before the attack, police had had cleared the roadway of protesters and debris and were conducting traffic control when they were attacked by a group of men who were armed with cutlasses and pieces of wood and iron.

The statement said that the police discharged their weapons into the air to disperse “the very hostile and aggressive crowd”, and that three police officers were forced to seek refuge in a nearby yard.

The police said that it was at that stage that the 18-year-old protester chopped the two police officers with the cutlass.

It said that he was attempting to chop one of the police officers again when he was shot. The teen was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival and the two police officers were admitted with chop wounds.

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