THE police yesterday detained 12 men following a gunfight with gunmen at Jacques Road, a volatile community off Mountain View Avenue in Kingston.

The area is well known for its support of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). However, it was unclear yesterday whether the men allegedly involved in the shooting had anything to do with the recent upsurge of political violence in the South-East St Andrew constituency.

According to head of operations for the Kingston East Police Division, Deputy Superintendent Noel Christie, the men were picked up after the security forces swooped down on the community in the aftermath of the shooting.

“About 11:30 am a group of cops on patrol encountered at least 15-20 men who opened fire at them,” Christie said. “The cops returned the fire and the men ran in different directions. Reinforcements came in and several raids were carried out and the men were picked up.”

But the police later came in for a tongue-lashing from residents of Jacques Road, who claimed that the arrests were unfair, and that the cops were targeting them.

Some of the residents, mainly women and girls, gathered at the intersection of Jacques Road and Mountain View Avenue to protest against the arrests.

“Police a come terrorise we when a we a di victim. We come under fire today and not a police we never see, but yet still a Jacques Road them come tek set pan,” one woman said angrily.

“Why all the while is we them target? We are not the aggressors,” another woman bellowed.

But Christie countered the Jacques Road residents’ claim that they were attacked by gunmen from rival communities known to support the ruling People’s National Party (PNP). He also insisted that the police were carrying out their duties impartially.

“We have no knowledge of any gun attack in that area. The only shooting was between the gunmen and us,” he said. “We have never before been partial.”

On Saturday six men from Jarrett Lane, an impoverished settlement which runs off Mountain View Avenue and has a history of allegiance to the PNP, were arrested.

Violence has increased in Mountain View since Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced on July 8 that general elections would be held on August 27.

The area has a history of violence and blood-letting, but had been quiet for almost two years after community policing and social intervention initiatives brought residents of rival communities together.

Last week, four people, including two women, were shot and injured as guns barked in the area, while a JLP office manager was shot dead.

Residents said there have been nightly rounds of prolonged gunfire in the area.

“They are firing at each other when they get the chance,” Christie confirmed.

Yesterday, the community was tense and there was little pedestrian and vehicular traffic. “The place a run red, so most people a stay off the streets,” one resident of Jacques Road said.

Violence has also been on the rise in the Eastern St Andrew community of August Town, where two people were shot dead and two others injured between Sunday and yesterday.

The latest casualty is 20-year-old Michael Jonas, otherwise called ‘Dutchie’, of Hope Flats. His bullet-riddled body was found at University Heights in August Town yesterday in bushes near to his burnt-out Toyota Camry motorcar.

Jonas’ murder followed that of 20-year-old Nigel Smith, otherwise called ‘Wingy’, of Goldsmith Villa, who was killed on Sunday night. The police believe a dispute between gangs in Goldsmith Villa and an area known as “Jungle 12” resulted in Wingy’s death.