Riot?

[eddiemingus]

The young man who died in this incident was a friend of mine for a long time. The family I live with their youngest son is his best friend. This was a classic case of if you come to a road block and don't stop when told to you will get a loud verbal warning to stop after that and you still dont stop your life is in real danger. I witnessed one of these events first hand. I had to stop for a road block and as I was being questioned a bike came and was told to stop and didn't. He got the loud verbal warning and was smart enough to turn around. That cop chewed his ass out. Told him just how close he came to being shot. This was very tragic and a great loss to this family, he was a good kid. R.I.P Scuba you'll be missed.

[fargoman]

I went for a jog this morning up to bridge..things looked fine..all I noticed yesterday was some smoke..most people on beach didnt even know anything was up..all iriie

[eddiemingus]

I need to clarify my post but first with an apology for making a statement on information that I thought was solid info from a friend of his. Scuba was not stopped by a road block as I was told. And im not going to put the new story I've heard either. Only this I will say the incident was very very tragic and that's what caused the unrest. Like I said he was a good kid.

[Flipadelphia26]

sorry for your loss.

[Shelly]

Here is another article:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/n...rcyclist-being

[Rastatman]

In the 30+ years of being in Negril, I have seen 5-6 riots. Usually, rumors start the riots, which USUALLY were wrong, once the true story came out. Once a riot was caused by the Police due to beating up a pregnant women. Then the true story came out that the female vendor attacked the police for making her move from where she was set up, smacking the Police, not pregnant and was from Kingston, cheating people out of their money. Once I seen cars and other stuff burning in the middle of the road. But I knew those vehicles did not run anyway and were sitting in a yard prior to the riot! Now it was going to be removed by the officials at NO cost to the owner! Have seen so much speculation over this ridiculous riot that people need to know how much this affects tourism. I have even walked with rioters and NEVER feared for my safety, my guests safety or safety in general. These type of riots only allow the locals to give off steam and absolutely changes nothing! Get on with the street music and have fun!

[captaind & Linston]

These are NOT riots......

These are demonstrations

You want to know about a riot?

Read the story of Sam Sharpe (National Hero)

Cap

[Rastatman]

I stand corrected Capt! They are indeed demonstrations and not real "riots". But either way, real nothings to worry about. Many of our guests tell us they seen things and won't come back due to all the violence and crime. We have to change something or this type of behavior will cause real issues with tourism on the entire island. Way to much internet and social media chatter about Jamaica already!

[Rob]

This unfortunate incident, not caused by crime or violence but an accident, has fortunately brought out some interesting points that are obvious from the posts made in this thread. As we continuously mention, the Negril rumor mill is quite active and colourful. Rumor and speculation benefit no one and causes much more harm than any possible good.

The original poster asked a very basic question based on what they had heard or read from someone. The title of this thread "Riot?" is a fair question considering the instant rumor caused by the Internet.

Anyone who has seen or been in a riot, such as happened in the USA cities of Ferguson and Baltimore would immediately see no similarity between those riots and the protest in Negril, which lasted a matter of hours. I was taken to Ohio State by my brother during the Vietnam riots, and being teargassed at age 9 is something I will never forget.

If you had not known about the protest, the day after you could walk around Negril and be none the wiser. Other than some fading scorch marks on the road, there were no obvious signs that anything occurred. But this is a perfect example of how the Internet can take one thing and transform it into another.

All over the Internet, people have now begun to change their postings, toning them down once they found out the truth of the situation. One particular post on another site, there was a complete "description" of the incident which caused the "riot". That post has now been changed to "waiting to find out the facts" about what caused the "protest". While this does show that the posters realize they were wrong in making their original post, it is impossible to "un-ring a bell". The damage has already been done adding to the rumor and speculation and causing further damage.

I admire the way our poster eddie handled his posts with an apology and retraction of his original post. This demonstrates how the Negril rumor mill works and also does not change what people have already read.

With all the emails and PMs I have received talking about cancelling their trips and asking about the accuracy of the postings on other sites, I would like to thank you all for making the effort to provide the facts to our visitors. Your posts in this thread and all the posts over the years have helped millions of visitors to Negril have the best time possible!

[TAH]

This unfortunate incident, not caused by crime or violence but an accident, has fortunately brought out some interesting points that are obvious from the posts made in this thread. As we continuously mention, the Negril rumor mill is quite active and colourful. Rumor and speculation benefit no one and causes much more harm than any possible good.

The original poster asked a very basic question based on what they had heard or read from someone. The title of this thread "Riot?" is a fair question considering the instant rumor caused by the Internet.

Anyone who has seen or been in a riot, such as happened in the USA cities of Ferguson and Baltimore would immediately see no similarity between those riots and the protest in Negril, which lasted a matter of hours. I was taken to Ohio State by my brother during the Vietnam riots, and being teargassed at age 9 is something I will never forget.

If you had not known about the protest, the day after you could walk around Negril and be none the wiser. Other than some fading scorch marks on the road, there were no obvious signs that anything occurred. But this is a perfect example of how the Internet can take one thing and transform it into another.

All over the Internet, people have now begun to change their postings, toning them down once they found out the truth of the situation. One particular post on another site, there was a complete "description" of the incident which caused the "riot". That post has now been changed to "waiting to find out the facts" about what caused the "protest". While this does show that the posters realize they were wrong in making their original post, it is impossible to "un-ring a bell". The damage has already been done adding to the rumor and speculation and causing further damage.

I admire the way our poster eddie handled his posts with an apology and retraction of his original post. This demonstrates how the Negril rumor mill works and also does not change what people have already read.

With all the emails and PMs I have received talking about cancelling their trips and asking about the accuracy of the postings on other sites, I would like to thank you all for making the effort to provide the facts to our visitors. Your posts in this thread and all the posts over the years have helped millions of visitors to Negril have the best time possible!

Agree that's not a riot. Not even close. I would still like to have more information about what happened in the "accident" though, several conflicting reports there, and they vary widely. Obviously I'm not owed any real information (no one except the family and community is), but that's the kind of thing that doesn't seem to come to light very often.

edit: transparency is a good thing, and is sadly lacking all over the world.