To this day, opinions on the government’s decision to destroy the homes of squatters in two shanty towns in West Kingston are still split. Did the government do the right thing to allay the violence that had raged in the community, or did they only succeed in spreading it further afield? Was the creation of homeless families worth it? You decide.

Published July 13, 1966

Bulldozers clear 2 shanty towns

• Industrial Terrace, Foreshore Road shacks levelled, burned

• Lads Dept., PWD move into action as deadline ends

BULLDOZERS moved swiftly yesterday, sweeping squatter shacks into massive heaps, at the Industrial Terrace and Foreshore Road shanty towns in Kingston’s West.

Then crews from the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Housing set fire to shanties, which numbered over 800, sending dense black smoke skywards.

But the squatters and their children braved the huge towering flames and intense heat to retrieve items of furniture, building boards and posts they failed to move out before the operation began.

For many, there was a mad rush to beat the bulldozers. Squatters scampered back and forth to secure spots, hurrying to clear out their belongings as the bulldozers’ shovels loomed.

MISSED DEADLINE

The flattened shacks belonged to squatters who failed to make the midnight Monday, July 11 deadline set by the Government, following the outbreak of violence in West Kingston, which started as gang warfare and spread to include sporadic political clashes.

One man was killed, some 30 persons seriously injured, and two police officers revolvers snatched in the period of violence, continuing which saw gunplay, the use of explosives and various other missiles.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, the Hon. J.P. Gyles announced on July 12, that “All West Kingston squatter settlements set up on Governments lands will be bulldozed and bulldozed until they are completely cleared.

The July 12 bulldozing at Industrial Terrace wiped out the remainder of what was Back-o-Wall, the larger part of which was demolished in 1963 to make way for the new low-cost Tivoli Gardens housing estate.

HOUSING PROJECT

At Foreshore Road, only the major part of the Shanty Town’s western end, stretching from the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) Hunts Bay power station to the JPS light pole storage lot in the middle of the squatter settlement was razed.

Up to late July 12, squatters there were continuing the exodus moving their shacks, whole and dismantled, on trucks, hand-carts and animal-drawn buggies.

The bulldozing crew will continue bulldozing on Foreshore Road on July 13, where it is expected the job will be finished by the following day.

The Tivoli Gardens housing project is to be expanded on the cleared Industrial Terrace land, while the Foreshore Road land is wanted for industrial development, a Government spokesman said.

A 300-man police detachment commanded by Assistant Commissioner Basil, stood by protectively on July 12 as the bulldozers flattened the shacks. But there were no incidents.

Extra police guards were also posted at Jamaica House, Gordon House, all Government Ministries and the Duke Street headquarters of the Bustamante Trade Union as a precautionary measure taken to repel possible mob attacks, Police Commissioner Gordon Langdon explained. But there were none.

The Roman Catholic and Anglican religious denominations are assisting many of the displaced squatters in finding alternative accommodation.

The Anglicans have acquired seven acres of land at Caymanas Bay, Caymanas, to resettle some.

CONTROVERSY

But controversy is developing between the St Catherine Parish Council and the Roman Catholic Church, over the temporary relocation of 50 squatters, at grounds behind the Catholics' St. Catherine High School, St John's Road, Spanish Town.

The matter is to be discussed at a meeting of the Parish Council and the representatives of the church on July 14.

Other squatters, moving their shacks whole and dismantled, have resettled at May Pen Cemetery, Moonlight City, Tower Hill, Sligoville and Riverton City, where new 48-hour quit notices expire at 6 a.m. today, July 13.

An officer of the Lands Department said shacks at Riverton, rebuilt on private housing lots will be bulldozed if the deadline is not met.

The Jamaica Public Service Company disconnected electricity and removed electric wires, run in the shanty towns at the request of the inter-denominational Operation Friendship, to facilitate the bulldozing.

Police detachments moved into both squatter areas shortly after 9am on July 12.

ORDERED OUT

Foreshore Road police ordered the Rev. Henry Muir, president of the United Liberal Party out of the area. He had been chanting mockery at the clergy, daring them to lead the citizens in blocking the path of the bulldozers.

The four machines used in the July 12 eight-hour operation moved into action first at the Industrial Terrace squatter settlement, the remainder of Back-o-Wall.

Opposition Senator Dudley Thompson. Q.C., told the Gleaner he hired trucks and had appealed to Denham Town police to put back bulldozing there a few hours, so the squatters could clear out. But his request was turned down, he said.

A police spokesman asserted that, only the Ministry of Housing could instruct a further delay in demolition.

And so the machines swung into the job, clearing everything in their path;  shacks, furniture, crockery and other stuff, piling them into massive heaps for burning.

At the area east of Industrial Terrace, also bordered by Spanish Town Road and Mammoth Highway, Tivoli Gardens, the only buildings remaining after four hours of bulldozing were Forbes’ Saw Mill and Lumber Yard, Caribbean Luggage and Garment Co. Ltd, Billings Mattress Co., Ltd, and Bailey and Reynolds Iron Works.

UNPLANNED FIRE

All but one building on the western side of Industrial Terrace was razed. This was a shack housing the office and storeroom of a garage owned by 48-year-old ex-serviceman Mr. Benjamin Clarke of 17 Drummond Street.

At Industrial Terrace there was at least one fire not set by the Public Works crews.

A fire started among shacks between Billings' and the Bailey and Reynolds Iron Works while the bulldozers were in action there. The fire quickly spread and only the concrete east wall of Billings' saved it from burning.

Towering black smoke swept through windows of the company building and other business places in the area, forcing closure.

But 20 fire-fighters from the York Park Brigade headed by Assistant Superintendent Richard Brown controlled the flames and prevented the fire from spreading.

The bulldozing crews moved on to Foreshore Road after lunch, flattening and heaping the shacks, trees and everything else in their path. They withdrew near 5 o'clock. 

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