Get out or be ‘dealt with’

SIX families from Nelson Street have been evicted by gang members from the Nelson Street apartments as the ongoing Rasta City and Muslim gang war.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday, members of one of the six families said they were told to get out or be “dealt with” even as police patrolled the streets Thursday night quelling a possible all-out war in east Port of Spain.

Members of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) told Newsday on Friday that they patrolled Nelson, Duncan and George Streets around 2 pm on Thursday, with the intention of arresting members of the Muslim gang, whom they considered suspects in various shooting and firearm offences. Police said members of the rival Rasta City gang then came into the area and tried to take control.

A senior police officer said the IATF saw this and began questioning and detaining some of the men whom they recognised as strangers in the area, ending with the arrest of 25 people. This was seen by Rasta City gangsters as a void that they could fill and they attempted to move in which caused Muslim gang members to respond, resulting in police presence in the area from Thursday afternoon into Friday morning.

“We was inside and I was hearing the gate opening and then they started to kick down the door so me and my family run in the bathroom because that is the only door that could lock. I called police and when they saw them coming they ran,” a frightened family member who did not want to be identified said.

The woman added that even though the families had been living in the area all their lives, they had been ordered to move out or face the consequences. This, she said is as a result of them being related to men who defected to the Rasta City gang, while they remained in the Muslim divide of Nelson Street.

She added that while police patrolled the streets, thugs were making them pack up their belongings and flee. When they returned for their other belongings, a truck driver who accompanied them was threatened and fled. They are calling on Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to get involved.

“It have adults and grandmothers living there all their lives, what kind of thing is that? Nobody is moving out willingly because people don’t have anywhere to go, if they had they would have left a long time ago. It’s not now this going on but this is the worst,” the woman added.

She said a visit to the Housing Development Corporation was not helpful as she was informed to make an official police report and wait, while her family are sleeping on the couches of friends and family wherever they can. The other families are also scattered.

In response to the attack, one family from Chafford Courts was removed by Rasta City gang members. Junior police said the issue was now in the hands of senior police officers. Calls to MP for the area Marlene Mc Donald went unanswered.