IN a day of chaos and tension, smoke billowed from the burning carcasses of old cars and police movement was curtailed by a human barricade, as hundreds of angry residents yesterday blocked the main road in the community of Flankers in the north coast resort city of Montego Bay, St James, protesting against the controversial killing of two men by cops.

Police identified the dead as 63 year-old taxi operator, David Bacchas, and 66 year-old newspaper vendor, Cecil Brown.

At nightfall, residents were reported to be adamant that they would not leave the streets until they got justice for the slain men. City officials and police were said to be in negotiations with community representatives to have them disperse.

The residents forcefully contradicted the police version of the shooting of the two elderly men at dawn yesterday, charging that they were killed in cold blood, and not in a crossfire between security forces and marauding gunmen.

They said Bacchas was on a routine Saturday morning pick-up of market vendors when he was “slaughtered”.

His daughter, Marie Bacchas, after a visit to the hospital morgue to see her father’s remains, painted a horrifying picture to the Sunday Observer: “I saw my father properly shot up; him marrow lick out, him get couple shot to the head… and what I see was murder.”

Another resident added: “Him (Bacchas) is a coward man who nuh carry people who him nuh know, and if him hear sey something happening, him prefer park him car and walk.”

Coming closely on the heels of the dramatic shoot-out between police and gunmen in nearby Canterbury last week, the flare-up triggered official calls for an urgent investigation of the incident and a return to normality from acting prime minister Portia Simpson Miller and security minister Dr Peter Phillips.

“No stone must be left unturned in getting to the heart of this regrettable matter, so that justice may be served,” Simpson Miller said in a statement from Jamaica House.

Hotel and tourism interests were also said to be wringing their hands and nervously watching if the latest incident would impact adversely on the coming winter season.

Some local journalists said they had received calls from contacts in the international media seeking information on what they termed as “riots” in Montego Bay.

But early reports said the demonstration had not affected tourists using the popular route to catch flights at the Sangster International Airport. Police kept the route clear, although persons travelling to Montego Bay from Trelawny had to divert through Ironshore and Norwood.

At one point a huge fire was burning along the road leading to the Sandals Montego Bay hotel, but the police quickly doused the fire and cleared the debris.

The day’s turbulence started to unfold while Flankers slept Saturday and the two men met their untimely demise at the hands of shooters whom the residents claimed were policemen. But police said they were cut down as they (police) traded shots with gunmen in the Red Ground area of the community. They said three guns had been retrieved.

As the community awakened to news of the deaths, anger overflowed onto the streets of Flankers. The residents set old cars ablaze and used old drums and other debris to block the main road. Looters took advantage of the chaos to rampage through a section of the community, police said.

Two Tourwise buses that were parked along Claude Clarke Avenue near the JUTA bus depot were engulfed in flames, while other huge fires were lit several feet apart along the roadway.

A strong detachment of police and soldiers had a difficult task trying to maintain the peace as the over 2,000 people were adamant that the road blocks were not to be cleared. They sat on logs and set up human blockades, preventing the police and a bulldozer operator from driving.

Superintendent in charge of the parish, Newton Amos, was hard put to calm the large crowd of demonstrators assembled on a community playfield, as he tried to address them above the din: “I know that a lot of you are here because you’re vex,” he said, “but some of them are robbing people place.”

But his calls for calm fell on deaf ears.

A team from the Bureau of Special Investigations was dispatched to Montego Bay and police were obviously trying to appease the angry residents and not to exacerbate the already delicate situation.

Simpson Miller said she had given instructions that the Bureau and the independent Police Public Complaints Authority carry out an immediate and thorough investigation to establish “exactly what took place”.

“It was understandable that emotions would run high in the affected families and in the immediate community. However, she is appealing to eye-witnesses to the incident to come forward and assist the investigation, in order to effect a speedy resolution,” the statement said.

National Security Minister Dr Phillips also ordered “a full and thorough investigation” into the shooting deaths.

Phillips said it was much too soon to affix blame on anyone, as in the present atmosphere it was difficult to establish the facts surrounding the incident.

He called for calm and co-operation with the investigation teams on the ground so that the facts could be established, a news release from his office said.

“He has asked the residents of Flankers in particular, and other adjacent communities to dismount the roadblocks and open dialogue with the investigation teams. The country cannot afford a setback of any sort at this crucial time,” the release said.