Curfew irks Manchester residents, business owners
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Even as police here say they did what was necessary to prevent further reprisals in three communities of Manchester Central by imposing a curfew, residents and business people criticised the security forces on Saturday.
The 62-hour curfew, which began at 6:00 pm Friday (January 20) and will continue until 8:00 am Monday (January 23), was imposed in the communities of Comfort, Broadleaf and Land Settlement (near Royal Flat).
However, business people there were not pleased with the measure, which they say, resulted in loss of sales especially on Friday night.
“Understandable about the curfew, but last night (Friday) many of us never expected the sudden implementation telling us to close down, because many of us made preparations and never got much time to get it sorted out,” a shop operator told journalists on Saturday.
“We wish we had [known] from before, so we could make preparations for the closure, it wasn’t until the morning (Saturday), they came here and informed us the right way, which should have been done before,” he added.
The shop operator said while he understands the need for the security measure, prior notice should have been given.
“I hope in the future any kind of lockdown like this. I hope we don’t get it so sudden. Give us at least a few hours to make the necessary preparations. Honestly, there are people who [operate] restaurants and they have food from last night (Friday) which they never got to sell and they couldn’t sell it today (Saturday),” he said.
“We know the police are doing their job and we love and appreciate all of that, because it keeps us safe. In the future, just give us a little time to prepare. I normally close at 10:00 pm, so all Friday night I made extra preparation in particular by buying more bread…” he added.
Other business people and residents shared similar sentiments.
“I work outside the community and sometimes far away, so last night (Friday) when I was coming in police nearly lock me up. I had to show them my work tools for them to let me through,” said one resident.
Highly placed police sources told the Jamaica Observer that the curfew was necessary, due to recent murders, including a reprisal action.
Last Saturday’s (January 14) murder of 42-year-old bartender Nakeisha Harrison otherwise called ‘Bumpa’ who was shot dead by gunmen at a house in Land Settlement is being theorised as a reprisal.
Harrison reportedly was not the intended target of the gun attack.
Police said that the December 6 murder of Marlon Irwin, otherwise called ‘Muta’, is linked to Harrison’s killing.
“It was a reprisal in terms of the murder of ‘Muta’, so the curfew is actually in place in Comfort, Land Settlement and Broadleaf,” said a police source.
Irwin, who was allegedly marked for death, according to the police, was interred on Saturday at the Melrose Cemetery under the watchful eyes of the security forces, following a funeral service in the neighbouring community of Broadleaf.
Police believe Irwin was involved in a gang conflict over a prolonged period.
Irwin was reportedly on a ‘death list’ and had been warned by police to leave his native community, Hampton in Broadleaf, and Manchester overall, months ago, after two men believed to have been sent from St Catherine to kill him were detained and later released.
“Muta was on the list to be killed, because we prevented him from being killed sometime in September and we held two men that we understood came down to kill him, but we never found the gun [on them],” a reliable police source said.