CNN
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A nationwide state of emergency has been declared Jamaica to fight violent crime, the island nation’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address on Wednesday.
“All Jamaicans will be able to enjoy Christmas without the threat of violence. We have some really serious criminal threats facing us and we have to use all the powers at our disposal,” Holness said.
The State of Emergency (SOE) will be enforced in nine of Jamaica’s 14 parishes, including Clarendon, Saint Catherine, Westmoreland, Hanover and parts of Kingston, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann and Saint James, including Famous tourist attractions Montego . Bay.
The state of emergency allows authorities to arrest people and search buildings without a warrant.
Holness added in her statement: “We have to make sure that the murder rate and level of violence that citizens experience every day are not to the point of threatening to bring down the state.
Jamaica, one of the countries with the highest homicide rate in the Caribbean (per 100,000), previously imposed an SOE on several areas of the Island on November 15, but it ended on May 29. 11 after failing to pass the senate vote to have it. extend.
The newly announced SOE was met with backlash from members of the public as well as opposition politicians.
In the last SOE, Jamaica’s Supreme Court ruled that the island’s authorities had violated the right of a man to be arbitrarily arrested and detained for months without trial.
