While Jamaica was gearing up for the general election, the security forces were out in full force in various towns throughout the island. I witnessed something horrendous on a Saturday in the town of Linstead. The security forces were out patrolling the town and a young Rastafarian man was walking with three children, an infant in his arms and his seven and four-year-old sons beside him. They were approached by police who held them at gunpoint. The two little boys held their hands high in the air and screamed and bawled, begging the police to not kill their father. The police roughed up the father and asked him why he was on the street. He said he was out there with his children because his eldest turned seven that day and they went out for ice cream. They ordered him to go home immediately. To say the children were terrified is putting it mildly. It was appalling to witness. Why as people pledged to secure the nation would you want to belittle a man in front of his boys, and why would you traumatise these children for no reason?

What are we? A nation under siege? If so, how much harm can children do? And when they have been so traumatised, what kind of life will they have?

It boggles my mind as to why our security forces would choose to demoralise citizens in such a manner.

- A concerned citizen, kananapo@hotmail.com, Via Go-Jamaica