Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
THE GOLDEN garments and rapturous cheers coming from the scores of persons who turned out to 'Stand for Jamaica' at Emancipation Park in New Kingston yesterday, created an atmosphere that mimicked the mood of a world cup football qualifier.
But this was no football match. These Jamaicans flocked to the park to support the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ)-led rally against crime. The event was in part, a memorial service for the more than 600 persons killed since the start of the year.
Dressed in the colours of the national flag, the multitudes displayed tremendous patriotic fervour. They danced in the aisles with varying degrees of expertise, as gospel choirs and singers led a series of prayerful renditions. So filled with spirituality was the event, that at times it seemed like a gospel convention would break out.
LIST OF DEMANDS
When PSOJ president Beverly Lopez read a list of demands which the group is making of the government, the mindset of the crowd became clear. Ms. Lopez announced that the PSOJ is demanding that by June 15, all members of the political directorate, sever and publicly declare in writing a commitment to disassociate themselves and their constituency organisations from gunmen. The president's words were met with thunderous applause and ecstatic cheers from the crowd.
HEARTRENDING AFFAIR
But for some, the event was a heartrending affair. At intervals, the names of the victims of murder this year were read to accompanying music.
As this happened, several women in the audience hung their heads and cried silently. For one woman in particular, the pain was obviously too much to bear.
The wrinkled woman dressed in a torn green house dress and a pair of black slippers sat by herself on the ground at the entrance to the park. In her left hand, she clutched a blood soaked T-shirt. In her other hand she held the picture of a smiling man in his early 20s.
The woman refused to speak with anyone who posed questions to her. Instead, she sat silently rocking from left to right. If you listened closely, however, you could barely make out a few of her words: "Time it stop now. It must done now," she whispered.
