SIX weeks after the shooting death of a young woman sparked a spate of violence that resulted in the killing of six persons, residents of August Town, including the members of opposing gangs, yesterday staged a peace march in the area in an effort to heal their wounds.

The march was organised by a group of policemen based at the August Town Police Station, the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), and prominent citizens of the community. It went ahead, significantly at the request of the community, without the political representatives — member of parliament St Aubyn Bartlett of the Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party’s Colin Campbell — who fought a bitter campaign leading up to last October’s general elections.

Bartlett polled 5,615 votes to wrest the East St Andrew seat from Campbell, who won 5,171 ballots. The third contender for the seat, the Rev Al Miller of the National Democratic Movement/New Jamaica Alliance coalition received 316 votes.

“It was their choice for the political representatives not to be in attendance,” Corporal Leston Scarlett, one of the police organisers, told the Observer. “It is not a political thing. It is a thing between the gang members.”

Residual tension from the election campaign led to the shooting death of 22 year-old Trudy Coombs at Bertha Lane two weeks after the poll.

On November 2, four men were shot and injured in a drive-by shooting in the Hermitage area.

Early the following morning, four men — Lester Duckett, 74; Duckett’s 22 year-old stepson, Damion Whyte; Tomlin Hibbert, 31; and Anthony Bryan, 20 — were slaughtered in the Goldsmith Villa area by a group of heavily-armed men, allegedly from the Hermitage area.

Police and residents believe the pre-dawn executions were in retaliation for the drive-by shooting.

In the ensuing days, tension thickened in the communities as the political representatives, backed by their supporters, traded blame for the killings.

Then, on December 10, Alvin Bignal and Moses Jagaroo were shot to death in Goldsmith Villa. Both men were reported to be from Enfield in St Mary.

But yesterday, residents from both sides of the political divide, obviously fed up with the conflict, marched through the various sections of the community, including Angola, Jungle 12, Goldsmith Villa and Hermitage.

According to Corporal Scarlett, the continuing violence between Hermitage, Goldsmith Villa and Jungle 12 pushed the police to organise meetings with different groups at different times.

“What we did was have a meeting today with all the members to see if we could iron out some strategy in accomplishing a unified August Town,” he said. “All the gang members participated in the march.”

Reacting to the development, Bartlett said he was happy that such a move had been initiated and hoped that it would assist the residents of the area to seek to reconcile their differences and heal their wounds.

“It is a great move. I hope the people will seek peace out of this initiative and the police will bring the kind of policing that the community needs,” Bartlett said.

The MP was also full of praise for the PMI’s Barry Chevannes and prominent community member Kenneth “Snake” Wilson, who he described as a man dedicated to bringing peace to his community.