ST MARGARET’S BAY, Portland — Several residents of Mount Pleasant in Portland yesterday blocked the St Margaret’s Bay main road in the parish to protest against poor roads and water problems in their district.

The protestors, who began gathering at about 7:15 am blocked the main road for about an hour, severely hampering the flow of traffic.

“We want water, we want road”; “No road, No water, No service and No road, No vote, No service”, read some of the placards carried by the protestors.

The police, led by Deputy Superintendent Dudley Scott and Inspector Gary Flash, appealed to the protesters that they had a right to protest but blocking the road was illegal. They then moved to the sidewalk and allowed traffic to move smoothly.

Some of the protestors claimed that they have been complaining about the road and water problem for the past two years but nothing has been done to address the matter.

“There is no road to drive on and the taxi man them just come together and block the road,” said Calbert Brembridge, one of the protestors.

They were, however, more concerned about the road conditions, complaining about the cost of traveling and effecting repairs to their motor vehicles.

Meanwhile, Vivienne Brown, the National Water Commission’s parish manager, said the water problem in Mount Pleasant was corrected in 2000 when a defective pump was replaced after a demonstration by residents of the community.

However, she said the present one has been out of service for two weeks but water was being trucked to the area to meet the needs of the residents.

“Persons supplied include those with service connection and without service connection. That includes persons with pipes connected to their homes, those disconnected and those without also benefited from the trucked water,” said the water commission official.