To the typical policeman and soldier, in times of conflict, Tivoli Gardens is a community to be feared.

In most of the previous confrontations there has been an almost tacit understanding that the security forces remain outside the perimeter of the community, surrounding it on all sides, on the east, north and south on Darling Street, full south on Marcus Garvey Drive, west on Industrial Terrace and from the north, the main operations are usually centred at Denham Town Police Station.

But the understanding seems to be accepted by the Tivoli gunmen too, who remain in the inner periphery of Tivoli Gardens. So while the madness takes place, the security forces pelt Tivoli Gardens with gunfire while the gunmen in Tivoli hit back with assistance from their compatriots in Denham Town. After a few days and a few more dead bodies, both sides pack it up and this crazy country returns to 'normality'.

Easily the most heavily armed and well-organised garrison community, Tivoli was always an area difficult to breach and it is nigh on impossible to carry out 'search and destroy' missions for gunmen because gunfire may come from a window while inside that particular room behind the window may be old men, women and children.

It is my belief that Tivoli Gardens never expected that the army would have entered with such force. And our army, trained mostly in mock battles in the field, was always going to enter only when firing from high rises was neutralised and, unsure as to where the next round of 'enemy fire' would be coming from, their fear coupled with a historical dislike of the heavily armed community dictated the actions of the security forces.

The question is, when the army was using explosive devices, did the commanders have x-ray vision to determine if non-combatants were in those buildings? I know it is easy for me to say this because I was not one of the soldiers on the ground, with adrenalin pumping, expecting the worst, but by what means could they neutralise enemy fire from residential high rises except to enter each unit and effect surgical operations.

Just based on the death toll and the fact that bodies were being buried in the nearby May Pen Cemetery tells me that something went horribly and tragically wrong. Many in the media have complained that they should have been allowed in during the security operations. I believe many media personnel have not fully thought that out.

I have been inside Tivoli Gardens in three conflicts: in 1996 when four young men were shot dead on Albert Street by the police after which the Denham Town Police Station was shot up by Tivoli gunmen; in 1997 when the coffin of a Tivolite by the name of Baugh was shot up by the police during the funeral procession, all hell broke loose and in a gun battle, four people in Tivoli and Denham Town lost their lives. Included in the dead were a woman and a six-year-old boy.

In 2001 came the mother of all conflicts in the mother of all garrisons. Again, because of the physical positions adopted by the security forces and the gunmen, I could remain in proximity to the community centre and feel safe because the firing was concentrated on the edges of the community.

With the army entering and firing at gunmen who are firing at them, who would be able to guarantee the safety of media personnel on the ground? Would reporters travel with army units as they entered small, narrow pathways not knowing what would be around the corner?

It is my belief that had the security forces operated with surgical precision they would have suffered much loss of army lives. In adopting the exact opposite approach, that is, use explosive devices and/or forcibly enter and kill anyone who moved, they minimised their own casualties but, in the process, must now answer for the tragic loss of innocent lives of the very people they were supposed to protect.

One man who contacted me told me that he had been firing at the security forces but had stashed his guns and ammo when operations quieted down and had gone to hide in May Pen Cemetery. He told me that at one spot he saw a pile of dead bodies, including some of his 'shotta' friends but he also saw the bodies of women and children. And he saw soldiers milling around.

Of course, I cannot corroborate his version of events, but many others have been telling similar stories.

The fact is, the security forces entered Tivoli Gardens with a mission. Granted they were met with gunfire as they entered, but the mission was botched, and not by any stretch of the imagination can they explain 70-plus people dead and six guns seized.

A massive investigation is needed

One person who used to live in Tivoli Gardens sent me the following on Thursday last:

"The JDF was granted permission by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to 'get rid of the criminal elements' in the garrison called Tivoli Gardens. The JDF has exerted extreme force against the civilians in the community, harsh abuse that includes but is not limited to vandalising homes, burning bodies and homes, beating and brutalising males, confiscating cell phones or any electrical devices that would substantiate any claims presented by the people in the community.

"This is nothing new to the residents of the area. The JDF/JCF has no respect for human rights. The residents barricaded themselves inside the community in an effort to save themselves. The Government, including Bruce Golding and the JDF, couldn't care less about the residents of Tivoli Gardens.

"The Government has repeatedly demonstrated its unreliability and lack of trust, therefore the residents rely on Christopher Coke to protect them.

"If the police capture Christopher Coke, they will kill him. Others are stating that he is selfish due to his reluctance to turn himself in to the authorities. His father Jim Brown had surrendered to the Jamaican authorities and was assassinated in his jail cell. As a result of that incident, Christopher Coke does not want to take that chance.

"Tivoli gardens is referred to as a slum. There are decent, law-abiding citizens that reside there, but Jamaica undermines them in its entirety. A resident cannot and will not utilise a Tivoli Gardens address when seeking employment, due to fear of rejection. It is sad but it is true.

"I have relatives that I am still unable to communicate with because their cell phones have been confiscated. There are others that still have their phones because they have managed to hide or deny having any phones in their possession. It is heart-wrenching to hear them crying over the phone lines as gun shots ring out in the background. They have to whisper when speaking and hang up when the soldiers are getting closer. They have expressed their trauma and fear of their lives. Women and children have been killed. The men are being beaten and killed, then burned or detained.

"They have lied repeatedly about the body count. There are dead bodies all over the place, which is why the media has not been allowed to enter the community. The count is far greater than 44 as it was reported on 5/26/2010. There was a young child about eight years old that was killed and had a white sheet covering the body as I spoke with my friend (who was whispering as we spoke this morning).

"They keep stating that they warned the residents and provided them with transportation to leave before this entire situation arose. But where were they going to take them? Did they make provisions or any accommodations for them? Were they going to board them at the Pegasus hotel, or just leave them in the middle of Half-Way-Tree? Most of the residents did evacuate. It's the individuals that did not have anywhere to go to that remained there. All of the residents who evacuated their homes will now return to absolutely nothing. They will have to rebuild their lives from scratch. Why?

"The JDF has sprayed their homes and contents with bullets, taken out their washers, clothes, curtains, etc to the streets and burned them, stabbing refrigerators and have also helped themselves by defecating in these residents' bathrooms. (I don't recall that being a part of their training). Any homes that had glass windows were deliberately broken. Items were also stolen, vehicles have been burned as well.

"My cousin's house is flat due to the grenades that were released. The Jamaican Government has denied these accusations but when all is said and done, someone will have to explain why a house that was previously standing has completely disappeared.

"Women, including children, have not had anything to eat for three days, because they are being held hostage. Residents from the buildings have been removed from their apartments and placed into one bundle, piled up like sardines, on top of each other, in one assigned apartment, where soldiers guard the entrance.

"A woman also tried to escape from her house, as it came under fire, due to the grenades, but she was assassinated while running from her house.

"A section called PWD/Rasta City has been burned. Where are these residents going to reside (that is if they are not dead), now that they do not have a home. The initial plan was to 'remove the criminal elements' but instead innocent lives have been lost, and not because they were in the streets. Their doors were kicked in with force by the JDF, these individuals were removed and killed in cold blood.

"I was born and raised in Tivoli gardens and I feel their pain and mental anguish. We are all human beings and should be treated as such. Regardless of our upbringing and our origination, we all bleed, we all have hearts, we all have feelings."

Where are the guns?

As long as members of the security forces carry out their duties professionally I have no problem with them. But of course, we know the age-old problem.

Already cracks are beginning to show in their operations even as we are forced to acknowledge that it is their own show of force that has kept roving bands of gunmen at bay.

I am not as perturbed as some that only a few guns were recovered. The guns are there and many citizens would like to see that cache or arms and ammunition discovered. Of course, the security forces must have now recognised that 'Dudus' is an extremely smart and unusually resourceful man. How else could he have slipped through a supposedly tight ring of police and soldiers?

My advice to him is signal to the Americans that he is willing to be taken in. Living a life on the run while the police and soldiers are after him will be extremely stressful because it will be difficult for him to escape with his life.

That, of course, would please some of the players elsewhere and it would allow them to continue as if they are altar boys.

While the population grows sick of the politics of the day, we are pressed to the wall by the large number of guns in the hands of young men, many of whom have been presented with no workable options to advance their lives. Fact is, it is unreasonable to ask a population of people to empathise with them while the guns are still out there.

For that reason I will support all efforts on the part of the security forces to bring in the guns.

Golding thrown under the bus by Seaga

Early Thursday morning I received an e-mail from a bright young man in the JLP. We later spoke by phone and one of the things he said reminded me of what Seaga had said of Golding in 1995 when he opined that Golding was a vacillator.

Said the young Labourite to me, "When Bruce has a decision to make he goes back inside his head too many times."

Now that Seaga has spoken and has said that Golding should resign, the popular sentiment will gain traction, not because Seaga is popular, but because Golding is so disliked at this time.

One woman wrote, "I still cannot recover from the disappointment in Mr Golding. I maintain that he should resign. I notice that he is being hit from left, right and centre. In the short run, he will not be able to stand the heat and will resign.

"In fairness to him, though, he did not create Tivoli, he inherited it. In all of this bangarang, you journalists have allowed Eddie Seaga, the architect of this fiefdom, to escape free. Tivoli community is the creation of Edward Seaga and he is to take most if not all of the blame for the bangarang."

Another person, a man wrote, "Just read your article entitled 'You still there, Prime Minister'? and it appears to me that you are really sick, tired and hurt over the situation!

"What to say? My position has always been that Bruce should have resigned (not that it would make a difference to what is happening now), but I still believe that it would have set a better precedent than the apology-precedent that has been set now.

"Can you imagine all others after him will use the 'apology factor' to stay in power no matter what they have done? We got to start seeing 'relevant' Heads of Gov't resigning, Mark. We got to!!!

"Thank you for your contribution in the paper... I am definitely addicted to your columns. But when this thing is over, it is going to surprise even you."

The calls for the prime minister's resignation were also echoed among many in the Diaspora, including young people studying and waiting to return home. Said a young woman, "Your editorial today, May 27, is most profound and explicit. It captures all my thoughts and no doubt those of other well-thinking Jamaicans. I've had it with this PM and most of his 'puppet' ministers. I agree with you they need to go! How can they even think about addressing people with a brain; there are no spins left to be placed on the information already in the public domain.

"I personally would like to give them directions to the network of caves in the Cockpit Country; It will provide a large enough rock for them to crawl under -- and at some point we just seal it with them in there.

"This is totally disgusting and while I'm unable to remember feeling anything about Manley in the 70s (because I was a little young then), I understand exactly what you mean based on how I'm feeling about the current situation. Your editorial resonates with me and I'm fed up with the leadership of my beloved country. I'm depressed and embarrassed -- as a proud Jamaican studying overseas -- to return to help build my country and improve the lives of my people. The events of the past couple of days have been very discouraging."

Some believe that Eddie Seaga did not have to throw Golding under the bus because the bus was already broken down and Bruce has been, for the last 10 months at least, under it trying to repair the transmission.

Ten months under a bus? We need a new one and a new driver, but this time around he has to have a licence to drive it.

observemark@gmail.com

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