Tanks and soldiers patrolled the streets of Kingston last night as the Jamaican government struggled to restore order after three days of shootings which left at least 23 people dead.
The Prime Minister, Mr P. J. Patterson, announced on Monday night that he was calling out the whole of the island's army after a police raid for illegal weapons in an impoverished neighbourhood on Saturday triggered a devastating armed confrontation with opposition supporters and gunmen in which 20 people were killed and 30 injured.
Soldiers in lorries and armoured cars began appearing on the streets during the night. They were backed yesterday by helicopter gunships as the authorities fought to prevent the unrest from spreading to other areas, including the tourist centre of Montego Bay.
The situation remained highly volatile as protesters blocked roads with burnt-out cars and other smouldering debris in response to a claimed police crackdown on neighbourhoods loyal to the opposition Labour Party, led by the veteran Mr Edward Seaga.
Some roads were reported blocked in the northern tourist area around Ocho Rios, while protesters attempted to build barricades in the Flanders neighbourhood of Montego Bay, the Information Minister, Mr Maxine Henry-Wilson said. A police officer was killed in the neighbouring parish to Montego Bay, bringing the total of security personnel killed in the latest violence to four.
A policeman was killed in St Thomas, east of the capital, when protesters struck him with a large rock as he tried to dismantle a road block.
The worst unrest was in Kingston, where a police officer was shot and burned to death in his car. The fighting centred on the western part of the city, especially the Tivoli Gardens area, Mr Seaga's constituency. But there was gunfire in other neighbourhoods and in nearby Bull Pen town. About 750,000 of Jamaica's 2.5m people live in the capital.
Police said gunmen were strafing some streets indiscriminately with fire from automatic weapons, and there were reports of attacks with home-made bombs. Opposition spokesmen said that most of the indiscriminate gunfire came from the security forces.
The violence caused panic in Kingston, with banks, shops and other businesses staying shut all day. Three shops in Spanish Town, near Kingston, were looted on Monday night.
"The government cannot stand by and allow criminal elements to hold this country to ransom," Mr Patterson said. Mr Seaga said that the violence had been deliberately instigated by Mr Patterson's People's National Party in advance of next year's planned elections.
"This is a ploy to turn popular opinion against us. It happened in 1997 when my constituency was raided and it's happening again," the opposition leader said. Mr Seaga's Labour Party currently has a large lead in the opinion polls.
Mr Tony Blair and his wife Cherie confirmed yesterday that they still intended to visit Jamaica at the end of the month.