Jamaican justice, Dirty Harry style
Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams has his own cure for Jamaica's crime epidemic. When a group of youths suspected of killing a police officer were tracked to a small house in Braeton, just outside Kingston, he and his men went in through the front door. (Guardian, 17 Jul 2001)
Jamaica fearful of collapse in tourism
From inside came a scream, followed by uncontrollable sobbing. As she stumbled towards the door of Maddens funeral home in Kingston, Evelyn Ruddock collapsed into her mother's arms. Nine months pregnant, she had just identified a decomposed body, her husband Humphrey, one of more than 20 people who died in last week's gun battle between police and gang members. (Independent on Sunday, 15 Jul 2001)
Through drugs and ingenuity, the dons are now independent of politicians
... The violence that erupted in Kingston during the past week, leaving at least 25 people dead, reflected a society coming apart at the seams. (Daily Telegraph, 14 Jul 2001)
Bloodshed in paradise
... The island may have a reputation for violence, but it is the capital that is almost entirely responsible for the shootings. Most Jamaicans are afraid of Kingston - or at least of "di bad people inna di Kingston" - and will try to avoid ever going there. Even the toughest young men in our village would talk of Tivoli Gardens or Trenchtown in the way Manhattan stockbrokers speak of the Bronx; for, to them, Kingston was the home of the gunman. (Guardian, 13 Jul 2001)
A traumatised society on the brink of anarchy
Angella Johnson: 'Jamaica, the beautiful land of my birth, looks set to turn into a Macedonia or a Bosnia' 'I had been planning to visit Jamaica at the end of this month, hoping to spend a week with my aunt, who lives in Montego Bay, before making the journey eastwards to visit some friends in Kingston, the capital. Even before the recent wave of street violence in the capital city, I was filled with trepidation.' (Independent, 11 Jul 2001)
Army takes control as 23 Jamaicans die
The Jamaican capital, Kingston, was like a ghost town yesterday as soldiers took to the streets to try to stem three days of gunbattles between police and opposition supporters which left at least 23 people dead. (Daily Telegraph, 11 Jul 2001)
Jamaica gun wars hit South London
A Met police chief has warned the drug-fuelled gang violence in Jamaica could spill onto the streets of South London. (icSouth London - South London Press, 11 Jul 2001)
Troops sent in to end chaos on streets of Jamaica
Gang violence has long been linked to Jamaica's political factions. While the fighting is also linked to the drugs trade, politics is a constant thread with so-called "garrison politics'' recruiting gang members in poor inner-city areas loyal to different parties. (Independent, 11 Jul 2001)
25 Oct 2001