Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
This woman used her body to block the road as angry residents of Park Lane mounted barriers along Red Hills Road in the vicinity of Whitehall Avenue yesterday. They were protesting the shooting Fredrick Patterson, a member of their community. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
TENSION MOUNTED yesterday in the fractious Red Hills Road area of St. Andrew, following the shooting of a 24-year-old man, Frederick Patterson, of a Park Lane address.
Patterson's shooting triggered a demonstration by scores of placard-bearing residents from Park Lane, a community which has been traditionally at odds with the nearby Hundred Lane community.
Residents claimed Mr. Patterson was ambushed by a group of gunmen early yesterday morning, while he was returning from a party. Allegations are that the men came from the direction of the Hundred Lane community.
"Dem gi him about eight shots," said a relative who identified herself only as 'Lisa'.
BITTER COMPLAINTS
For almost three hours, protesting young children and adults blocked the busy thoroughfare of Red Hills Road, forcing vehicular traffic to divert along Whitehall Avenue and Dunmair Road.
Despite the presence of the police, a group of women sat on a bench which they used to block the intersection of Park Lane/Red Hills Roads. The street, by now, was littered with garbage, spilled from overturned drums.
It was not until the arrival of Senior Superintendent Grace Barnaby-Broomfield and the immediate intervention of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on national security, Derrick Smith, that the police were able to clear the road.
The irate residents complained bitterly about police brutality, unprofessional behaviour on the part of the police and partisan policing. One of the victims, a 15-year-old youth, who was allegedly kicked by a member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) during an operation in the area last week, pointed to the wound in his back.
Another resident showed the senior officer several locks, which she claimed a policeman pulled from her Rastafarian brother's head.
The senior officer was also asked to probe an incident in which six members of the community have been detained since last week without being charged. The six were among 41 persons who were taken into custody during a joint police/military operation in the area.
