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6.27.
On the basis of electronic and photographic evidence
shown to us, we are satisfied that whereas some residents assisted in
the erection of barriers, the placement of some of these barriers at
strategic points and their transformation into embattlements
necessarily involved other actors, including local and imported gunmen
and persons with previous military experience and expertise.
6.28
The blockading and barricading of the Tivoli Gardens
community as well as parts of Denham Town severely restricted the
access of members of the JCF to those areas even before 24 May.
Access to Denham Town Police Station was impeded between 21 and
23 May by unidentified persons loyal to Coke who were determined to
immobilize that station and to prevent Coke’s arrest by the security
forces.
6.29.
The embattlements and the gunfire encountered by the
security forces as they attempted to go through or around them,
significantly restricted the ingress of the security forces and
considerably slowed their advance on 24 May 2010.
6.30.
When the Authority to Proceed was signed on 18 May, it
prompted the hasty erection of barriers and embattlements. After
20 May, fortification of Tivoli Gardens was accelerated.
6.31.
Whereas we accept that the demonstration on 20 May by
about 600 women dressed in white was, ostensibly, “a symbol of
peace”, according to the witness Annette Marshall, the actual
messages implicit on the placards borne by the women were of a
different character.
6.32.
For example, the messages included –