RIOTING members and supporters of the notorious Clansman gang yesterday locked down Spanish Town as they protested against Sunday’s police killing of their leader, Donovan ‘Bulbie’ Bennett.

Businesses remained closed, schools were unable to hold classes and most taxi and bus operators stayed away from the old capital as rampaging gangsters fired at the police and set fire to roadblocks mounted around the town.

Several persons who had left their homes to get to work and schools were stranded early in the morning and had to walk back home as intermittent volleys of gunfire blazed through the town.

Last night, dozens of heavily-armed police and soldiers patrolled the streets in an attempt to restore calm.

A curfew was also imposed on sections of the troubled town, starting at 6:00 pm yesterday. It was scheduled to end at 8:00 this morning. Areas under curfew were north along Burke Road, south along the Spanish Town bypass, east along Manley Boulevard and west along Oxford Road and Salt Pond Road.

“The area is still tense as there are periodic gunshots fired,” Superintendent Kenneth Wade, commanding officer in charge of the St Catherine North police, told the Observer last night.

“We did anticipate it, but irrespective of how much we had anticipated… the resources that are available to us, given what is happening in the Corporate Area and other places, would never be adequate,” Wade said.

Police said five people, including three policemen, were shot and injured during the riot. One of the injured cops was said to have been shot by a colleague.

A Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus and a Toyota Corolla motor car were set on fire, while sections of the police post at the bus terminus were set ablaze.

A man driving a Toyota Camry motor car was shot in the palm of his hand when he came upon a roadblock along Brunswick Avenue, while a police vehicle was shot up along March Pen Road.

Police said the driver, a cop assigned to the Port Maria station in St Mary, was on his way to Clarendon when shots were rained on his unmarked Pajero sport utility vehicle. He was shot and injured. Another policeman was shot and injured by gunmen at the Jose Marti School round-about.

In the meantime, the police said 10 people have so far been detained for questioning in relation to yesterday’s violence.

‘Bulbie’, accused of several cases of extortion and murder, was shot dead in what the police said was an exchange of gunfire in Tanaky, a hillside community just outside of Rock River in Clarendon. One of his cronies, identified only as Nathan, was also cut down by cops from Operation Kingfish in the alleged gunfight.

Superintendent Wade said ‘Bulbie’ was responsible for almost 100 murders over the last two years. “This was not an ordinary man,” Wade said.

Members of the Clansman gang, who support the ruling People’s National Party (PNP), started to set up roadblocks in the town from as early as Sunday night as they protested against the slaying of their leader.

The police, with help from Jamaica Defence Force soldiers, had a long day clearing roadblocks and putting out fires, but by late evening most of the blockages were cleared. However, the gangsters vowed to fight on.

“Them kill we leader and from yesterday (Sunday) about 5:00 pm a pure gun shot a fire and me not talking about one or two gun shot; is about one dozen,” said a man who lives along the Spanish Town bypass. “Him (Bulbie) was a good man to both PNP and JLP (Jamaica Labour Party). Now the youth them naw go eat no food and them angry,” he said.

The Spanish Town bypass, which was among several roads blocked for hours by the protesters, was littered with burning debris for several metres. In some sections, large rocks were used to block the road. Barbed wire was tied across some sections of the road.

In de la Vega City, an enclave of the PNP, residents blasted Security Minister Peter Phillips, who on Sunday publicly commended the police force for the operation which led to the demise of the Clansman leader.

They also claimed that the police opened fire at them, hitting an off-duty cop who was speaking to neighbours at his gate along First Garvey Drive in the community. He was identified as Clyde Francis of the Denham Town Police Station. The Spanish Town police could not confirm the incident.

“Him was standing right here and we see some police and soldiers come and them seh ‘don’t move, hands up’, and him tell them seh him a police, and them still shot after we and one shot catch him inna him foot,” said a de la Vega City resident who claimed that he was an eyewitness.

Another resident said he had a 15-month-old baby in his hands and had to run for cover when the police fired.

“When them start to fire after we, me have fi chuck inna one yard and me chip up the whole of my knee, he said. “We understand seh the police dem have to do them job, but them have to do better than that,” said the resident who declined to give his name.

An elderly woman, who also refused to give her name, said that she had been living in that community since the 70s and it was the first she had ever experienced such an incident.

“The police have to do better than that,” she said.