SOE forces took up positions from Sunday
Published:Sunday | May 5, 2019 | 12:25 AMLivern Barrett - Senior Staff Reporter
A Westmoreland woman revealed to The Sunday Gleaner that she woke on the weekend to find that members of the security forces had taken over a section of her shop, but says they are welcomed to stay there for as long as she is alive.
“I don’t know how long me a go live for, but I woulda want them here for the rest o’ me life,” the elderly woman told this newspaper on Thursday, day three of the state of emergency, which will run, initially, for 14 days in the western Jamaica parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover and St James.
The small team of police and soldiers had taken up position at her shop, located near the border of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland.
It happened on Sunday, two days before Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that a state of public emergency had been declared in St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.
Even with the heavily armed police and soldiers around, the woman, like many residents, barely whispered while she spoke to The Sunday Gleaner and refused to give her name for fear of reprisal.
“Make sure you not taking my picture,” she pleaded.
The woman said she went out to the shop, located metres from the dwelling house she shares with her family, and saw police and military equipment in a section she uses to prepare cooked meals.
In addition, she said a tent was erected in front of her shop, all without her knowledge or approval.
Still, she says she has no reservations.
She recounted that before the security forces entered the community, residents and business operators lived in constant fear of armed thugs.
According to her, the shop was recently pillaged by criminals, one of a string of brazen daylight robberies.
“Them (the robbers) clean out everything,” she recounted.
But she says that since the security forces took up position at her shop, there has been a slight uptick in business.
“Me nuh really mind ’cause me a mek one little change now,” she said.