Patrick Campbell/Staff Photographer
Residents of Flankers, St. James, block the main road leading into Montego Bay with burning debris.
Erica James-King, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
MONTEGO BAY took on the appearance of a war zone yesterday as residents of Flankers took to the streets and mounted a massive roadblock and demonstration, following the shooting deaths of two men and the injuring of a woman by the police Saturday morning.
The unrest forced a major shutdown of most sections of the resort city and a dramatic scale-down in commercial services, as vehicular and pedestrian traffic could not get in or out of the city via its eastern thoroughfare for several hours.
The protesters lit fires and used boulders, old vehicles and tree limbs to mount barricades along several sections of the Flankers main road. They vented their disgust over what they charged was the "cold-blooded killing" by the police of newspaper vendor, 66-year-old Cecil Alexander Brown and 63-year-old David Bacchas, a taxi operator, and the alleged wounding of Audrey Stephens, another resident of the community, by a police bullet.
Up to late yesterday evening, the Flankers main road was still solidly blocked and a stand-off prevailed between irate residents and a large contingent of police and soldiers at the scene.
In a swift move to deal with the situation, the police hierarchy have removed from duties, crime chief for St. James, Deputy Superintendent Derrick 'Cowboy' Knight. He will be reassigned to another section of the island. Reports from the police are that DSP Knight headed the operations during which the three Flankers residents were shot.
The police also seem to be admitting that they had made a mistake in the shooting that took place.
Speaking to The Sunday Gleaner, head of the Constabulary Communication Network, Senior Superintendent Ionie Ramsay Nelson, said the BSI is examining reports that a mistake might have been made by the police in the shooting incident.
LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
"We are not in anyway associating the find of two firearms, to the two senior citizens who died this morning... From all indications the men were decent, law-abiding citizens from the community," she said.
She explained that the hierarchy of the Police Force has conceded to three requests from the citizens of Flankers, as the probe into the controversial shooting continues.
"We have agreed that the policemen involved in the incident will not be able to leave the island and they will be taken off front-line duties. The second request is that the police will assist with funeral expenses for the victims. Thirdly, Superintendent Knight will be reassigned from the area, as the investigations continue," outlined Superintendent Ramsay Nelson.
She said that the guns of the policemen involved in the incident have been seized for forensic testing and their hands have also been swabbed as the investigations intensify.
Meanwhile, police reports on the incident allege that about 4:00 a.m. yesterday they saw six men, one of whom was armed with a high-powered weapon attempting to stop a taxi. The police say they challenged the men and a shoot-out ensued. The police further allege that when the shooting stopped they found two men dead in the car. The police reports also state that two firearms were found on the scene a .45 semi-automatic gun and a 9-millimetre pistol.
According to the police, one firearm was found near a zinc fence in the community while another was found in the grass nearby.
But protesters challenged this version insisting that the dead men were decent law-abiding citizens. They are contending that the car which was taking passengers to market was shot-up by the police.
Yesterday's incident was the second flare up of violence in 11 days in Montego Bay. On Wednesday, October 15, there was a stand-off between police and gunmen lasting more than eight hours, during which three gunmen were shot and killed, three policemen shot and injured, and a large cache of ammunition seized in the volatile Canterbury community. In the days following that incident, several high-powered weapons, a bag with over 600 rounds of assorted ammunition, military fatigues and a quantity of ganja were found in the area.
Flankers, an equally volatile community, sits on the eastern end of the second city.
Throughout yesterday's protest, it was a cat-and-mouse game between residents and the Security Forces. As soon as sections of the road were cleared, they were barricaded again. At one point police teargassed the crowd after they hurled missiles at the lawmen.
The protesters not only blocked the Flankers main road but the Ironshore main road as well. For the most part, fires burnt unchecked at barricades across the thoroughfare as fire-fighters had a hard time gaining access to the Flankers main road.
ANGER AND GRIEF
Meanwhile, 34-year-old Yvonne, daughter of David Bacchas, was overcome with both anger and grief when she spoke with The Sunday Gleaner about the circumstances under which her father died.
"My father has been a taxi operator in Flankers from before I born, so why was my father killed. He's not a gunman." said an agitated and distraught Yvonne Bacchas who called on the Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips and Police Commissioner Francis Forbes to intervene in the impasse between the residents and police.
Bacchas has died leaving three children and 11 grandchildren.
Meanwhile Member of Parliament for North West St. James, Dr. Horace Chang is lamenting what he described as the Police Force once again breaching the trust of residents.
He said that this latest shooting incident has further aggravated the relationship between the lawmen and the community.
