Security forces take control of Coke’s stronghold

| 28/05/2010

(CNS): Jamaican security officials continued to clear blockades with bulldozers set up by the followers of suspected drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke to block his stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, on Friday. At least 73 people have now been killed in the battle between security forces and the armed supporters of Coke — and allegations continue that the death toll is far higher. On the fifth day of urban violence, sections of the capital remained under a state of emergency and the search continued for the man who is wanted by the US authorities on drug-trafficking and gun-running charges.Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga has criticized the current government for not protecting residents of Tivoli Coke’s stronghold, arguing that the fighting had caused widespread suffering.

Seaga has called on government officials to lift the lockdown so trapped residents have access to food and medication.

Seaga, the former leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Member of Parliament for West Kingston is calling for the resignation of his successor, Prime Minister Bruce Golding. According to the Jamaica Observer the man who built the community of Tivoli Gardens, has accused Golding of mismanaging the United States extradition request for Coke and described the security operation as an atrocity.
The Jamaican police have renewed their appeal for Coke who has still not been apprehended to give himself up. The Jamaican Observer reported that police had gone to premises in the upscale community of Kirkland Heights in upper St Andrew yesterday after they gained intelligence that Coke was hiding out there.
Coke was not there but police reportedly shot and killed Keith Clarke, the brother of former People’s National Party member of Parliament Claude Clarke. Four Jamaica Defence Force soldiers were injured during the operation and the Bureau of Special Investigations is probing the incident.
 
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  1. hugh says:

    bruce is doing a good job cleaning up the country,when they catch mr  coke his case will be transfered to texas so we can get the death penalty.we may not be home but we still love jamaica,jamaicans are in every branch of government in america,so mr coke you need to go dig up johnny cohran because your  going to need  him.

    • What??????????? says:

      "bruce is doing a good job cleaning up the country"

      Are you really serious?

      He has to start with all the corrupted Politicians (in Jamaica and Cayman) that is connected with Dudus, through himself.

      Dudus will never be captured, at least not alive, as he has too much to reveal and that will happen if he is extradited to the US.

      I think you should check with all the people living in Jamaica and see if he is cleaning up the Country, and please dont ask anyone who is not living in Jamaica as they are not feeling firsthand the effects of this "cleanup" by "bruce".

       

       

  2. Anonymous says:

    What mr Seaga is saying is stupidness, the Jamaican police and army must continue to search every house in Tivoli Gardens and clean out every gun and gunman there, Otherwise it will make no sense to capture Dudus.

    The Jamaican Government should make sure food, water and medical supplies is given to the people of Tivoli Gardens until every gun and gunman is captured in Tivoli Gardens and the other garrisons in our country. This is the only way we are going to get rid of the thousands of illegal guns in Jamaica.

    If the Jamaican government should do what mr Seaga is asking to be done,that would only continue the killings of the nearly 2,000 people that are killed each year in Jamaica by the thousands of gunmen who are living in Tivoli Garden and the other garrisons in Jamaica.

    The Jamaican government is on the right track in cleaning up all the guns and gunmen in our country and should not stop the opperation until they get rid of all the guns and gunmen. otherwise what they have started is going to be a waste of time and lives.

  3. Anonymous says:

    While it is true that what is going on is really outrageous and bad for tourism,

    it is also wrong for hooligans to intimidate people and furthermore , try  to

    intimidate the law.I am almost positive that these are the same people that

    gunned down two police men in broad daylight in downtown kingston.which

    country in the world do you know would tolerate such a thing.I was born in

    Jamaica,I just spent three weeks there in my beautiful island,incase some

    do not realise it,tourists are discouraged from visiting kingston.I think Jamaica

    is for everyone who want’s to visit and not feel intimidated to go to kingston.

    It is my opinion that politicians have corrupted the  poor people over the years

    and again they are the ones paying the price.They carry the guns and the

    politicians gain the benefits.What does a persons life value to people like

    these and who gives these people the right to decide who lives and who

    dies,maybe this should be a lesson to all and maybe this will not happen

    again.For those who can remember, in the sixties trenchtown was blocked

    off by soldiers who swept through and confiscate guns etc.This should not

    be happening again in the 21st. century. In closing ,when you defend wrongs,you will eventually pay. anonymous.

     

  4. gatewayup says:

    This is why the people are against their own government. Sad to say but  when the Gleaner states:

     "The Clarke family said last night thatthey were ‘horrified and shocked by the dangerous, unprofessional and outrageous conduct of the security forces … who forcibly invaded his home and killed him in front of his wife and daughter’.

    They have demanded a ‘complete, full and thorough investigation’ into the matter.

    Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, who heads the operation, said the operation was part of an islandwide effort to apprehend Coke."

    One must wonder who are the criminals. Mr KeithClarke was the brother of former People’s National Party government minister Claude Clarke

  5. damionZ says:

    Indeed, it looks like they are going to kill more people than Dudus may have done in his life-time!

    This whole conflict is immaterial and is not good for Jamaica! 

    How are you going to change the hearts of Coke’s loyal supporters?  How is the US going to stop the drug trade from Jamaica???  For as soon as they catch him (if they can) someone else will take his place!  How?

    What???  Use force, kill people, search houses without warrants, sweep through towns, and imprisoned ALL his supporters, women and children who see him as their Robin Hood?

    I am sadden that the extradition order was ever sign. The way this is done, is not right!  On Dudus many visits to the United States, the U.S. could have caught him long time. 

    • Anonymous says:

      I am saddened by the amount of lives that were and are still being lost due to this unrest.

      For the criminals who died in this, were they thinking about other people when they took the lives of many? Were they thinking about you and I? It is very sad at the way we Jamaicans think and act. You see there is something about to happen and you roam the streets after being told to get off and now you have been shot and you blame the police for this. Whos fault is it?

      • Anonymous says:

        I totally agree with you. I need to ask all those who talk about the security forces used excessive force, 

        1. WHAT ABOUT THE HUNDREDS THAT THOSE SAME CRIMINALS HAVE KILLED.

        2.Have you ever been awaken in the night with a gun in your face or have been robbed?

        3. have you ever had to watch you child or spouse being raped and couldn’t do aything about it ?

        4. Have your house ever been burgled?

        5. Have you ever had your children or grand parents burned to death in a fire that criminals started, because they are at war with somethug in your neighbourhood.

        6. Have you ever had your husband or wife leave to go to work a never came home, because some criminal robbed him for a few dollars or because he was trying to protect life, property and the people of the country, or because he supposedly saw something that he shouldn’t. 

        7. Did the 86 wounded Police & soldiers shoot themselves, did the security forces that died commit suicide.

        I heard a young woman being interviewed on the radio a few days ago from another garrison, who said that her baby father was killed sometime ago and when she heard it she was not surprised because the life he lived.

        When the reporter asked her why she stayed if she knew he was a gunman. She said  quote "well you see he used to provide for us, go rob people and bring money for us and thing.".  The reporter ask if he was involved in the drugs & guns trade and she said a little but not so much.

        In my opinion the only ones in this that I feel it for is the little children and I’m not talking about teen because unfortunately most of them are already brain washed. 

        These women should be deemed unfit mothers, to keep their children in an area that was about to be a war zone, and I don’t buy the excuse that they didn’t think that security forces was going to come in, or that they didn’t have anywhere to go. Because 1. they saw the men preparing for war, as a matter of fact there were pictures in the press of women helping to prepare the sandbags. 2. buses were waiting to take them to safety and they were told that all they had to do was bring their medication. 3. At daybreak on the morning the security forces went in, reporters saw women with children on their backs leaving the community through may pen cemetery.

        If you love your children so much you should get them out of harms way. These women know what was coming, if they wanted to  stay they should have gotten their children out.  If you burn a police station what do you expect. a prize?