The police and judiciary in Suriname are launching a manhunt for the rioters who stormed the parliament building and looted shops after a demonstration on Friday. According to the government, there was a ‘coordinated action’. So far, 119 people have been arrested, of whom 37 are still in custody. At least 19 people were injured in the disturbances. The city center of Paramaribo will remain closed for the time being.
This was announced by Minister Kenneth Amoksi of Justice on Saturday evening Dutch time at a press conference. “We regret these events. We are not used to this from our community,” said Amoksi. “Given the manner of the actions, the times and locations, we can only conclude that there was a coordinated action that was planned.”
The police have a lot of images of people who were guilty of looting, robbery, assault and arson. They are analysed. “We have you in mind and we will track down, arrest and bring everyone to trial,” Amoksi said.
More arrests are ‘a matter of time’, says chief of police Ruben Kensen. “We are going to hold everyone accountable. Anarchy will not be tolerated in any way.”
Action leaders responsible
The police are looking for the leader of the protest, Stephano ‘Pakittow’ Biervliet. Minister Amoksi calls on him to report to the police. “All action leaders are responsible.”
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Biervliet denies that he is responsible for the disturbances. ,,The course was peaceful and participants were allowed to speak. A group with which I was not in contact has made its way to the National Assembly,” he said in a statement. He says that he then unsuccessfully appealed for calm. “Shots were fired from the vicinity of the National Assembly, presumably from an automatic weapon.”
According to the protest leader, tear gas was then used against the crowd without any reason. “I was threatened by unknown persons in the crowd, with visible weapons. There is no doubt in my mind that public violence perpetrators were in contact with each other. I have asked the officers present to bring me to safety and this has not been answered.”
Until bleeding
Police and army are patrolling more and there are extra roadblocks. Shops outside Paramaribo will reopen tomorrow. In the capital, entrepreneurs are called on to be ‘reluctant’ with reopening. Minister Amoksi also calls on citizens to be ‘unnecessarily on the street as little as possible’. The US embassy calls on Americans to stay away from the House of Representatives and busy places, such as in shops and at intersections.
The Suriname Shopkeepers and Entrepreneurs Association (WOVS) is shocked by the looting. “The damage is enormous and employees are severely traumatized,” says chairman Gretl Wolfram to this site. “Some of them have deteriorated to the point of bleeding. Videos show how scared they were. We suspect that people called each other on purpose to see where they could loot.”
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Minister Hoekstra offers Suriname help
The cabinet stands ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with the Surinamese government and has offered help, CDA Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday in response to the riots in Paramaribo.
“It is extremely worrying, yesterday I immediately called Albert Ramdin, the Surinamese Minister of Foreign Affairs. This is really disturbing, we know such images from the US and from Brazil. And now in Paramaribo. So our joint aftertaste is one of concern, but Ramdin and I are also firm: this is not possible.”
After years in which mutual relations had cooled considerably, the Dutch cabinet has recently had more and better contact with the Santokhi government, Hoekstra emphasizes: “The Surinamese government is making great progress, doing its utmost to restore the country. to build. So now we are also looking at how we can support Suriname.”
Hoekstra cannot yet say whether and what kind of aid the Netherlands actually offers.
The association had already warned members of riots on Thursday after statements on social media that people were planning to ‘wreak havoc’. “But everyone underestimated those threats,” says Wolfram. “When things went in the wrong direction on Friday, we called for the doors to be closed immediately, but looters simply broke down the shutters.”
Wolfram doesn’t have a good word for the police. “He didn’t handle it well,” she says. “There were too few officers on the street and they did not dare to intervene. The police underestimated it terribly.”
Wolfram cannot yet say how great the damage is for entrepreneurs. “Computers with the entire administration have been broken. Businesses remain closed for the time being due to the unsafe situation. Importers and wholesalers also remain closed, so we can’t fill the shelves either.”
Responsibility
Various employers’ associations hold the organizers of the protest action liable for the disturbances. “The leaders who may have incited this off-screen and the apparent perpetrators who should be tracked down and tried indiscriminately for their misdeeds and held responsible for the cost of reparation,” the Association of Economists (VES) said in a statement. declaration.
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Trade union C-47, which called on members to strike, emphasizes that it was not the organizer of the demonstration. The union therefore refuses to take responsibility for the riots “because it had no part in the getting out of hand of the popular protest and the actions of individuals who committed unlawful and criminal acts,” the trade union federation said in a statement.
C-47 is “tremendously shocked” by the “ordinary looting and destruction of property.” “The watchword for action was to close the companies at 11 a.m. and then go home. In addition, it has left it to the members of the member unions to go to the square.
Large national debt
The demonstrators are angry about the policy of Surinamese president Chan Santokhi. They believe that he is responsible for the economic crisis that Suriname is facing. Inflation in the former Dutch colony is 54 percent and the country carries a large national debt.
The authorities acknowledge that preparations for the demonstration failed. “This is an expensive lesson,” said Minister Amoksi. “We must be prepared for all excesses, so that we can immediately switch effectively to protect people and cause fewer victims than necessary.”
Watch how demonstrators entered the Surinamese parliament building in Paramaribo on Friday:
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