On 3 April 1924, colonial police opened fire at Ruimveldt on a large march of sugar workers from East Bank Demerara estates. The marchers were traveling toward Georgetown in support of the striking dockworkers organized by the British Guiana Labour Union and Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow. A Guyanese parliamentary account reports thirteen killed and twenty-four wounded; a scholarly thesis identifies twelve Indo-Guyanese and one Afro-Guyanese among the dead. British officials later described the police shooting as necessary self-defense, a framing that places official order above the workers’ cross-sector and cross-community solidarity.
On 13 March 1913, colonial police shot and killed fifteen Indian indentured workers at Rose Hall estate in Berbice; about forty more were seriously wounded. The confrontation followed weeks of labor...
On 4 January 1917, Georgetown wharf workers began a ten-day strike for higher wages, a shorter working day and overtime pay. Wartime inflation had sharply raised the cost of basic foods. Led by Hubert...
On 12 March 1917, the Government of India prohibited further recruitment and shipment of indentured workers to overseas colonies. The measure followed years of criticism and organizing in India and...
On 18 April 1917, the SS Ganges arrived in Georgetown carrying 437 men, women and children, the last ship to bring Indian indentured migrants to British Guiana. The group was distributed among 24...
On 1 January 1920, outstanding indenture contracts in British Guiana were officially brought to an end, according to Guyanese historical accounts. This legal closure followed India’s 1917 ban on...
👉 Police shoot sugar workers marching in solidarity at Ruimveldt
Current
3 April 1924
On 3 April 1924, colonial police opened fire at Ruimveldt on a large march of sugar workers from East Bank Demerara estates. The marchers were traveling toward Georgetown in support of the striking...
On 16 February 1939, police opened fire during a strike at Plantation Leonora on the West Coast Demerara, killing four workers, including a woman, and seriously injuring four others. Workers were...
On 22 April 1948, about 1,200 sugar workers from seven East Coast Demerara estates began strike action against the cut-and-load harvesting system and unfair measurement of work. The method required...
On 5 June 1948, striking sugar workers staged a mass protest in Georgetown after weeks of unresolved labor conflict on the estates. The march brought rural plantation workers’ demands into the...
On 15 June 1948, workers and estate representatives met at Plantation Non Pareil, but the discussions did not resolve the strike. The workers had rejected the cut-and-load system and the estate’s...
On 16 June 1948, British Guiana police opened fire on striking workers gathered outside the factory at Plantation Enmore. Five workers were killed: Rambarran, Pooran, Lallabagee, Surajballi and Harry....
