Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writer
PORTLAND:
ALMOST A week after the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) demolished four houses on the Fairy Hill property in Portland, informal settlers backed by other local residents blocked the main road in that community yesterday.
As early as 3:00 a.m. yesterday, settlers and residents took to the streets using chain-saws to cut down trees, which, along with boulders, old cars and other debris, they used to block the roads. The blockade which started near the Blue Lagoon Villas, extended all the way to Boston Bay, the home of jerk pork - more than two miles away.
Deputy Superintendent Hartnell Brown, who is in charge of operations at the Port Antonio Police Station, responded with a large contingent of heavily armed police personnel and cleared the blockade in stages.
STRONG POLICE PRESENCE
He warned that anyone caught blocking the roadway would be arrested and reiterated that the police would be maintaining a strong presence in the area to prevent the protesters from remounting the roadblock.
Up to press time yesterday, a large section of the main road was cleared by the police; however, other sections have been confined to single lane traffic as it will require the service of heavy duty equipment to remove the many tree trunks and boulders.
Last week Tuesday, a demolition team from the UDC demolished four houses on the Fairy Hill property, after informal settlers failed to honour eviction notices served them in October last year. The settlers were granted an extension which expired on April 15. The UDC team which started the demolition of the houses on April 19, were forced to cut short its demolition of the other ten remaining houses after the settlers protested strongly.
Last week the UDC explained that the "eviction took place after several unsuccessful attempts to regularise the tenure of persons who have been illegally occupying the property and who were given first option to purchase one of the 215 residential service lots which have been developed on a section of the property."
The Corporation made clear that it did not demolish any structures on the Winnifred Beach, and indicated that its intention was to develop the public beach park as an eco attraction in keeping with the objective of making Portland a "green" destination, while seeking to regularise, upgrade and provide proper facilities at the beach.
