Apr 22, 1999
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Apr 22, 1999 |
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Seven shot dead
Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
SEVEN PERSONS have been shot dead and five are nursing gunshot wounds among the casualties of three days of islandwide protests against the hike in gas prices. Dead are 25-year old Brenda Duncan of Morgan Lane, Kingston 8; Devon Russell of Commodore district, Errol Campbell, a JDF soldier, and four who the police say are still unidentified. Damage to property has run into millions of dollars, as buildings were set ablaze, or smashed and looted. Cane fields in western Jamaica were also burnt. There was massive social dislocation as schools, supermarkets were closed, airlines cancelled flights, and exports of major commodities reduced. A total of 152 persons have been arrested and charged with breaches of the Anti-Litter Act and looting. The disturbance subsided as Government Ministers and People's National Party (PNP) activists took to the streets in droves early yesterday morning to clear roadblocks in PNP strongholds. They urged their supporters to refrain from further protest. Roadblocks in some Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) strongholds, such as Central and Western Kingston were also cleared. Up to news time, the police reported that majority of main roads that were blocked had been cleared. A number of roads in St. Catherine were still blocked up to yesterday evening. In the Corporate Area sections of Spanish Town Road, Olympic Way, Waltham Park Road, Mannings and Red Hills, Grants Pen roads were partially blocked. Minister of Commerce and Technology Phillip Paulwell, the PNP Region Three Chairman, Paul Burke, and activists such as Danhai Williams were among scores who cleared Windward Road, Victoria Avenue, part of Mountain View Avenue and other roads in East Kingston. Minister of Labour Welfare and Sports Portia Simpson Miller and a team cleared roads in her constituency, as did Transport Minister Dr. Peter Phillips in his area. On Monday night two looters were killed by the police in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. A pregnant woman was killed by security guards in Grants Pen, St. Andrew, Tuesday. A JDF soldier who was shot Tuesday evening succumbed to his injury yesterday morning. The PIC also reported that one of a group of looters who fired on members of a police patrol was fatally shot on Red Hills Road. The man is yet to be identified. In St. Catherine the police said two men were fatally shot by the police in separate shooting incidents. The police said about 10:30 a.m., policemen were clearing debris from roads in the district when they were fired on by gunmen and attacked with molotov cocktails, bottles and stones. A police service vehicle was set ablaze. The police fired at their attackers and when the shooting subsided two men were found with gunshot wounds. One of them died at the Spanish Town Hospital. In the second incident, the police were clearing roadblocks when they were fired on by gunmen on Wellington Street in Spanish Town. The fire was returned hitting two men, one of whom died. A young boy was shot and killed along Gem Road in Kingston, yesterday afternoon. The police are unsure how he was killed. But there was a massive shoot-out between gunmen and the police in that area. Apart from the death of the soldier, since Monday at least seven cops have been injured. One was shot in the face in East Kingston, six others were injured during separate incidents at scenes of roadblocks in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine. |
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