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A very sad day for Jamaica
A very sad time for Jamaica People of the beautiful island of Jamaica will record the May 24, 2010, National Labour Day, as the day the country's army invaded a community called Tivoli Gardens with a bid to cleanse it of criminal elements and serve a warrant to accused drug lord and ‘don’ Christopher 'Dudus' ‘Presi’ Coke. Residents setup barricades at the entrances of the community which proved to be a deterrent to the police who wanted to enter the community. Law abiding resident of Tivoli Gardens were asked to leave, busses were provided, noone took up the offer. The days to follow were grey. On May 23 gunmen armed with high powered weapons set out on an attack against the state where they set fire to the Denham Town police station, and attempted to do the same to three others in downtown Kingston. The government called A State of Emergency as of 6:00 that day. At night fall criminals attempted to attack other police stations in Kingston. Police officers were engaged in gun battle with criminals for the entire night. At the break of dawn, two police officers were dead and others injured from a battle on Mountain View Avenue. As daylight broke on May 24, citizens in some parts of Kingston were kept alert by the sporadic outburst of gunfire being exchanged between gunmen and lawmen. As mid-day drew near Soldiers moved in on Tivoli Gardens, the resounding sound of gunfire could be heard across downtown Kingston. After day three of what seemed like a war, over 60 lives were lost, more than 300 men were detained, and one soldier was shot dead. |
