Jamaican PM Golding vows to restore order to Kingston
Page last updated at 22:09 GMT, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 23:09 UK
The BBC's Nick Davis says the government is hoping to regain control
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has vowed to restore order after at least 31 deaths during an anti-drug offensive in Kingston.
He said he regretted the loss of life as security forces battled fighters loyal to a suspected drug trafficker sought by the US.
Mr Golding said police would continue searching for illegal guns and crime suspects.
The whereabouts of alleged drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke are unknown.
He has thousands of loyal followers who have promised to protect him at any cost.
Police say they have detained more than 200 people and seized arms and ammunition.
New gun battles raged on Tuesday as police and soldiers searched Kingston's Tivoli Gardens district for Mr Coke.
The fighting has intermittently blocked the road to Kingston's airport and forced some flights to be cancelled.
Western countries such as the US and Britain have warned their citizens against travel to Kingston and its surrounding area in the current circumstances.
'Lorries piled with bodies'Prime Minister Golding, who approved Mr Coke's extradition to the US last week after a delay of nine months, reported to parliament on the crisis.
Witness: 'We got out fast' Kingston under siege Profile: Christopher 'Dudus' Coke In pictures: Jamaican unrestMr Coke, 41, insists he is a legitimate businessman and enjoys the support of many impoverished Kingston residents who see him as a benefactor.
The US justice department accuses him of being one of the world's most dangerous drug barons.
Thousands of heavily armed police and soldiers have been making their way through the capital's most violent slums, battling masked gunmen loyal to Mr Coke.
Gangs from slums just outside the capital also joined the fight, erecting barricades on roadways and shooting at troops.
Jamaica's Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, told BBC World Service the government had the situation under control.
"The government is always in control, we've never lost control," he said.
The security forces were acting according to the law, he insisted, adding: "This government is one that is big on protecting human rights."
Mr Coke is said to lead a gang called the Shower Posse - owing to the volume of bullets used in shootings - and operate an international smuggling network.
The gang has also been blamed for numerous murders in Jamaica and the US.
Mr Coke faces a life sentence if convicted of the charges filed against him in New York.
The drugs trade is deeply entrenched in Jamaica, an island nation of 2.8 million people with one of the highest murder rates in the world. Some 1,660 homicides were recorded there in 2009, AP news agency reports.
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AT THE SCENE
It doesn't feel safe in downtown Kingston today.
Out on the streets, the police are watching for snipers. The occasional bullet whizzed through the air and hit the palm trees.
This is a disaster for Jamaica's reputation. The main offensive is a mile away, but even in the commercial heart of the capital, people are being pinned back against the walls. Normal life is on hold.
Dudas is seen by many here as a kind of Robin Hood figure, a protector of the poor.
And that's why it's hard to see what happens next - the authorities are intent on capturing Dudas; those loyal to him intent on stopping that at whatever cost.
"The government deeply regrets the loss of lives of members of the security forces, and those of innocent law-abiding citizens who were caught in the cross fire," he said.
Estimates of the death toll vary from 31 to 60 but almost all of the victims are said to be civilians.
Police Director of Communications Karl Angell told Reuters news agency that 26 civilians had been killed and 25 injured in Tivoli Gardens.
Two other civilians were shot dead by suspected supporters of Mr Coke in Spanish Town, an area 14 miles (22km) west of Kingston, officials said.
At least three members of the security forces have also been killed in the violence which began on Sunday.
Hospital sources told AFP news agency that more than 60 bodies had been unloaded on Tuesday at a morgue in one of the Jamaican capital's main hospitals.
AFP's correspondent was first told of two lorries which had delivered "about 50 bodies" to Kingston Public Hospital, then witnessed a third lorry "piled with corpses riddled with bullet wounds, including a baby".
A nurse counted 12 bodies on the third lorry, the correspondent said.
'Big on human rights'A state of emergency has been in place in parts of Kingston since Friday, when several police stations were attacked.
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Kingston under siege
Page last updated at 0:30 GMT, Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Smoke rose over Kingston's Tivoli Gardens area on Monday
As I drive through the city, my taxi driver tells me that he is going to have to charge extra: "Everywhere is blocked up, it's just turn, turn, turn."
I am just trying to get into the main commercial district of the capital, New Kingston, but the journey provides a snapshot of the situation the country finds itself in.
As we head up one road we spot the few vehicles on the road doing sharp U-turns. Then I hear it, the sound of automatic weapon fire.
We head back down the road to go around the trouble, and we are suddenly surrounded by police. A shot-up Toyota is parked up by a petrol station.
We continue. Towards the centre of town the streets are quiet - it is a national holiday, Labour Day, a time when communities get together to do work in their areas.
But everywhere is empty until we pass the main army camp as truckloads of soldiers in convoy head out, sandbags loaded on their vehicles, to a city under siege.
Steve the driver, like many Jamaicans, has a nickname. His comes from his time in the Jamaican defence force: Sojey, the patois for "soldier".
After seven years in the army, he recognises the sound of the M16s fired in our direction.
Tight controlThe old police station at Darling Street had stood in West Kingston for over a century. Now it is a ruin, firebombed and looted in an brazen daytime attack. Parts of the capital are under a state of emergency with two police officers killed overnight.
Jamaica had been gearing up for trouble from the moment the country's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, announced he would address the nation a week ago.
He promised to explain his handling of an extradition request from the US for Christopher Coke, better known as Dudus.
He also goes by the other aliases of Shortman and President, the last one an indicator of how he is viewed in his community of Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.
Before the violence which came to a head on Sunday, I had spent time in the community of Denham Town, and I was surprised by the reaction from many residents.
The area had been called the "mother of all garrisons" by a former head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force yet when I spoke to people, I was struck by the loyalty and support people had for the Dudus.
"Nobody can steal round here without his say-so, nobody carries out rape round here, they'd be dead."
I was worried for my safety but was told that nobody would touch me and in the early hours of the morning I walked out of the community, something that would be unheard-of in other more volatile communities on the island.
He was seen as the boss who cared for his community, providing what the state had not: safety.
Fast-foward to nine months ago and the US put in an extradition request for Christopher Coke, a man Washington claims is the head of the Shower Posse, an infamous gang that made and earned its name in the 1980s by spraying bullets like water when they attacked rivals.
It is believed they are responsible for more than 1,400 murders in the US.
His extradition would see him facing charges of drug-smuggling and gun-running but, as a prominent supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, he holds a large amount of political sway.
Jamaica's 'dons'He keeps the area, which is also Prime Minister Bruce Golding's constituency, loyal to the party.
The government initially turned down the request, saying the evidence for the extradition had been gathered illegally.
But following calls for Mr Golding's resignation, after it became clear he had sanctioned a US law firm to lobby against the extradition, he announced the order would be signed the following day.
The warrant for the arrest saw fortifications being put round West Kingston.
The tough inner city communities of Kingston are not called garrisons for nothing.
Controlled by an "area leader" - the island's euphemism for the criminal bosses who are better known as "dons" - local strongmen can control a few blocks to whole swathes of the city.
The power they have stretches from the gully to the Gordon House, the seat of government.
The prime minister says the security forces will be swift and decisive in re-establishing law and order but, as the violence spreads, many wonder if they can handle the criminals who are taking on the state.
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TIVOLI GARDENS
- Located on Jamaica's south-eastern coast, far from tourist hub in north
- Built in late 1960s on grounds of a cleared dump known as the Dungle or "dung hill"
- Warren-like public housing project with population of about 25,000
- One of Jamaica's notorious "garrison" slums - described as "a state within a state"
- Power base of PM Bruce Golding's West Kingston constituency
- Invaded in 2001 by security forces in search of illegal weapons; 25 people killed in three-day stand-off
- Four residents died in a similar operation in 1997
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