Downtown Kingston yesterday was the scene of several sporadic acts of violence against law enforcement officers as criminals from Tivoli Gardens and surrounding areas banded together in an act to try to prevent the arrest of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who is facing extradition to the United States where is to face gun and drug trafficking charges. Gunmen from Tivoli and surrounding communities erected roadblocks and then fired on any one attempting to clear said roadblocks including the police. A ‘limited’ state of emergency was placed in Kingston & St. Andrew after the Hanna Town Police Station was attacked by gunmen and subsequently burned down.

During a limited state of emergency certain civil rights are waved to afford law enforcement officials added power to effectively police and restore calm. Included in the rights to be waved are the freedom of movement – the police can arrest you for being on public property (the streets) without what they deem to be a valid reason – and freedom of speech. The Prime Minister in a nationwide address last night urged all citizens to cooperate with law-enforcement officers as they will be conducting they’re duties within the scale of the law.

Meanwhile, the police issued several statements throughout the day yesterday, urging law abiding citizens to leave Tivoli Gardens and surrounding areas. The government even went as far as to provide transportation and a safe place of stay for people who wanted to leave much to their avail because reports indicate that at the end of the day there was no one there to board the buses.

And it would seem like the violence is spreading to other areas as two police officers were killed and another six injured in the Mountain View area of Kingston last night, while the Cross Roads Police Station in Spanish Town were attacked by about 10 gunmen. Early reports out of Jamaica today are that things have toned down significantly since yesterday but we hope and pray for a speedy resolution to the current situation.

We’ve have including unedited footage captured by TVJ in Jamaica yesterday.