A small group of Rastafarians recently staged a vigil for Basil Brown, the vendor who was allegedly shot and killed on Kingsway by members of the security forces.

Brown, a Rastafarian, who had been selling for approximately seven years at the corner of Kingsway and Hope Road, was shot dead at his stall by police during an Metropolitan Parks and Market (MPM) led operation to rid the streets of vendors.

The small gathering of mainly Nyahbinghi members lit candles and converged on the spot were Brown had fallen, insisting that the vendor had been killed “execution style”.

The Rastafarians allowed their drums to do the talking, drumming insistently into the wee hours of the morning. Their drumming was also accompanied by lively chants and the waving of placards, some of which read: “Stop the senseless killing,” and “Stop the Genocide In the Name of Love.”

Gloria Simms, spokesperson for the group, told the Observer that although she “hardly” knew Brown, she felt compelled to grieve for a fallen brother. Simms, who is a trained social worker, said she would observe Brown by his stall whenever she went by Devon House.

“So we’re keeping a night for the brother because the brother died a violent death,” she explained.