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Jamaican Police Hold Over 500 People

CHAOS

And residents are trapped in their homes.

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Ian Allen, The Jamaica Gleaner / AP Photo

Jamaican police say they have over 500 people in custody after three days of violence in Kingston, but still no sign of drug lord Christopher “Dudus” Coke. As fighting to flush him out spilled into the street, the city’s residents were trapped in their own homes while the civilian death toll climbed to 67 on Wednesday. "They complained that they were bottled up inside the buildings that were cleared," public defender Earl Witter said of Kingston’s residents. "There was no running water, bodily waste was stored in pails.” Coke, 42, is wanted on drugs and gun-running charges in the United States, where he would face a life sentence if convicted. When the operation to hunt him down launched on Monday, his supporters threw up barricades of sandbags, cars, and barbed wire to stop more than 2,000 soldiers and police. But Wednesday, authorities brought in bulldozers to clear them in an effort to return life in the city to normal.

Read it at The Guardian