COOPER’S PEN, Trelawny — Even as the Government mobilised multi-agency help for about 40 families whose houses were demolished a day earlier, a group of irate residents of Cooper’s Pen in Trelawny staged a peaceful protest Wednesday, demanding more. The residents said they want to be relocated, after their houses were demolished allegedly by the owner of land some of them have occupied for decades.

The protesters insisted that the Government, or the landowner, must provide them with alternative accommodation. They said the temporary tents provided by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), in which some of them spent Tuesday night, are not enough.

“We get tent last night, so we can lay a head for the night. What about today? What is going to happen? We want to know where we are going to relocate to. What is going to happen to the people them that their house push down?” asked demonstrator Jessica Haye.

In a Wednesday afternoon release, while emphasising that the demolition arose from a long-standing private matter, and that the Government of Jamaica was not a party to the underlying private dispute, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said a number of State agencies had been deployed “to address the immediate humanitarian and social welfare needs of affected families”. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, ODPEM, Child Protection and Family Services Agency, Poor Relief Department within the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and the Social Development Commission are among agencies involved. OPM said teams worked well past midnight, Tuesday, to help those who lost their homes.

“Assistance provided included food supplies, bottled water, toiletries, temporary shelter supplies, tents and lighting equipment. As part of the emergency response, ODPEM mobilised and transported relief supplies directly to affected families, including 40 family-size tents, cots, foam pads, solar lights, care packages, cases of bottled water and sanitary products. The Ministry of Labour will return on Friday, August 14, to provide additional support,” said OPM.

A resident extricates her popcorn machine from the rubble of her demolished house in Coopers Pen, Trelawny, Wednesday morning. (Photo: Horace Hines)

But while grateful for the help, residents said they expect more, and they laid out their demands during Wednesday’s protest.

“There is no way you can demolish a house like this, and no notification. No notification. We need justice,” said Haye, who stressed that many of them had not yet recovered from the devastation caused by last October’s Hurricane Melissa.

“We are not going to stop this [protest] until the prime minister [Dr Andrew Holness] hear. We naw stop. We go come out here day by day because we want justice. It must be a relocation!” she insisted.

Another demonstrator, Sylvia Fisher, said while they understood that the residents could not remain on privately owned property indefinitely, they should have been given notice and assistance to relocate.

“You can’t run in pon people so. And run pon people goods… and then now put you under tent! You have pickney to go back to school. It cannot work,” she said.

She said she has lived in the community for 32 years, while her father lived there for more than 50.

Mattresses provided by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management to residents of Coopers Pen, Trelawny, whose houses were demolished on Tuesday. (Photo: Horace Hines)

Fisher is adamant that the government has a responsibility to assist affected residents whom, she said, voted them into office.

“The government need to come see this cause a we the people make the government, and is we the people put politicians in power, and a we the people have power. So they must consider poor people. A no rich man, a poor people put them in a power,” she argued.

“We know we have to go, but please relocate we, relocate we. We live pon the land 20, 30, 40 years you just come pitch we off so. No! Find somewhere and put we. The private man who them say claims to own the land, him fi find somewhere and put we. A him come mash we up,” Fisher alleged.

Even as those who have lost their homes agitate, there are fears that the wrecking crew will return. Among the worried is 69-year-old Stanley Hill, who said he has lived on the property for 51 years.

He said a marker has been placed at the doorway of the small concrete house he has occupied for decades, indicating that it is earmarked for demolition.

A group of angry residents of Coopers Pen, Trelawny, demonstrating, Wednesday, near the highway in their community. They want Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness to assist in their relocation following Tuesday’s demolition of 20 houses in the area. (Photo: Horace Hines)

“Now to the age a me now, me soon 70, me a 69-year-old. And me live there from me a little boy. Where me going go now as an old man? Me can’t make house again,” said Hill.

“I need somebody to talk to me so me know where me stand. Because me can’t come sleep under tree. And me don’t have no money. Me don’t have no bank account,” he added.

The OPM has given a commitment to keep an eye on what is happening in the community and “coordinate additional interventions”. It said it is aware that those affected include senior citizens such as Hill, children, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable individuals.

Said the media release issued Wednesday: “The Poor Relief Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, along with the Social Development Commission, will undertake further assessments of affected residents and households. Assistance will be provided through the applicable government programmes and support frameworks. Furthermore, the Ministry of Local Government has indicated that drop-in shelters will be available to meet the needs of residents.

“The Government of Jamaica’s response is being coordinated across the relevant social protection, disaster management, child protection, local government and community development agencies, with the immediate priority being to ensure that vulnerable residents have access to essential assistance while individual and household circumstances are properly assessed.”