Monday, May 24, 2010

Kingston Under Heavy Manners

Kingston remained under a State of Emergency Tuesday as the hunt for alleged criminal Christopher Coke continues.  Coke, known by his nicknames "Dudus" and "President" is under an order of extradition to the US to face drugs and weapons charges.

This situation bears an eerie resemblance to the violence that erupted when Coke's father Lloyd Lester Coke, a.k.a. Jim Brown was similarly arrested on a US extradition warrant.

• Jamaica Observer report.
• BBC news report and Video.
• BBC biography of Christopher Coke.
• Jamaica Gleaner bio of Dudas.
• Jamaica television news reports.

*note: the term "heavy manners" refers to the State of Emergency or curfew and marshal law that was declared by Prime Minister Michael Manley in 1976 in the run up to national elections. Manley, leader of the People's National Party, won re-election to a second term in office. He was replaced in another bloody election cycle in 1980 by his rival Edward Seaga of the Jamaica Labor Party who's stronghold is in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood, the site of today's unrest. Jamaica's current Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, is a political leader who represented Tivoli.