Jamaica Police Declare Emergency

Masked men torched a police station and traded gunfire with security forces in a barricaded slum in Jamaica's capital Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency.

Sporadic gunshots rang out in gritty West Kingston where defiant supporters of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a Jamaican "don" who is widely suspected of controlling gunmen in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood, have transformed the area into a virtual fortress cut off by trashed cars and barbed wire.

In barricaded Hannah Town, close to Tivoli Gardens, black smoke spiraled into the sky from a police station set aflame by molotov cocktails.

Officers fled the burning station in impoverished West Kingston, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces killed 25 civilians, as well as a soldier and a constable

Jamaican media have reported just two wounded so far: a police officer and a civilian, both hit by gunfire.

Sunday's violence erupted following a week of ever-higher tensions in the capital over the possible extradition of Coke to the United States on drug and arms-trafficking charges.

After Prime Minister Bruce Golding reversed his long-standing refusal to extradite Coke, the alleged kingpin's supporters began barricading the streets and preparing for a fight.

Earlier Sunday, police urged the neighborhood boss to surrender, calling the heavy barricades encircling his slum stronghold a sign of "cowardice."

The U.S., Canada and Britain issued travel alerts on Friday warning of possible violence and unrest in Jamaica. Most islanders have been steering clear of downtown Kingston entirely.

The state of public emergency, limited to the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, will be in effect for one month unless extended or revoked by lawmakers, the government said.

Coke is described as one of the world's most dangerous drug lords by the U.S. Justice Department. He has ties of loyalty to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and holds significant sway over the West Kingston area represented in Parliament by Golding, who stalled Coke's extradition request for months with claims that the U.S. indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence.


Source: www.globalgrind.com