Lindeners block access road to Wismar Bridge

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 August 2021, 11:25 by Denis Chabrol

About 400 persons  on Wednesday blocked the road leading to the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge as part of anti-vaccination protest. 

“What we are asking in national television is that the nurses and others can go in the corner and they can peacefully picket. We have no difficulty in them picketing in the corner, but we have a difficulty if they are going to block the road. So I am appealing to them to go in the corner and allow the traffic to flow,”  the Region 10 Divisional Commander, Hugh Winter said.

The protest is in reaction against the locking out of doctors, nurses, administrative and other employees from the Linden Hospital Complex for being unvaccinated.

 Commander Hugh Winter says the bridge itself is clear and traffic can flow freely.  

He confirmed to News Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM  that approximately 300 persons are using their bodies to block the access road to the Mackenzie -Wismar bridge in protest against the government’s vaccination rules.

Since the imposition of the requirement by a gazetted order requiring persons to be fully vaccinated before accessing government agencies and buildings, there has been resistance to the vaccines.

In Linden, region ten doctors, nurses and administrative and other unvaccinated staff of the Linden Hospital Complex have been prevented from entering their place of employment for a second consecutive day.

Today they began staging protest action in defiance of the move by the government by blocking the road leading to main access bridge connecting the hinterland and Georgetown in the bauxitw mining town.

Commander Winter says the police are on the ground to assess the situation.

The region has seen widespread hesitancy to receive the covid vaccine and has the lowest percentage vaccine with less than 19 percent of persons in the region vaccinated.