Selassie

IS IMPERIAL MAJESTY,

the Emperor Haile Selassie of

Ethiopia, leaves the island this

morning at 8.30 o’clock for Haiti at the

end of a State Visit which started on

Thursday afternoon amid unprecedent-

ed scenes of welcome. Since then the

Rastafarian and Afro-Jamaican sections

of the Jamaican society have kept interest

in the Emperor’s visit at fever pitch, and

at Spanish Town yesterday some people

were injured for what at the moment

appears to have been two reasons: (1)

hostility at the police far trying to keep

the Rastafarian elements away from the

immediate vicinity of Haile Selassie be-

cause of the apprehension that he might

be injured with a surfeit of affection, and

(2) a rumour that ran among some Ras-

tafarian groups that the Emperor was not

Haile Selassie at all but someone foisted

the Jamaican people by the machinations

of the Government.

The first reason arose out of the

stricter police discipline on the second

and third days of the Ethiopian Emper-

or’s State Visit. The second was a reac-

tion to the Emperor’s stature which is

slight, and although the rumour gathered

strength in places of Rastafarian con-

centration, the majority of Rastafarians,

and certainly their leaders who had been

personally presented to the Emperor,

were convinced that the King of Kings,

the Elect of God and the Conquering

Lion of Judah had been gracious to pay

Jamaica a visit. The Emperor himself

hoped that the visit would lead to closer

ties between the two nations.

Yesterday’s programme went as

arranged aside from the cancellation

of the Spanish Town ceremony and

the added function of the stone-laying

ceremony at Payne Avenue, which had

been put back from Friday because of

fears of demonstration which the police

could not handle. On Friday also, it had

been thought that it might be best to

take the Emperor and his party not from

the Kingston Railway Station but direct

from Payne Avenue to Spanish Town

by road and then entrain him from there

for Montego Bay. But with the military

called in to assist the police, the pro-

gramme was not varied too much. He

laid the cornerstone of the school which

he is donating to Jamaica and he board-

ed his train to Montego Bay from the

General Railway Station in Kingston.

After Spanish Town, everything

went well at all the other stops the

Emperor made on the route to Montego

Bay itself it was almost a repeat of the

Palisadoes scenes on Thursday after-

noon. The Rastafarians (some of them

had travelled from Kingston in order

to be in Montego Bay for the farewell

functions of the Emperor), took charge

of the whole affair, in spite of added

police and soldiers; and although they

were kept away from the immediate

vicinity of the Emperor and his party,

their loud chants and their numerous

and colourful banners managed to

spoil something; of the grandeur of a

Civic Reception. But the mood which

had been established at the Palisadoes

Airport on Thursday was maintained all

through to Montego Bay: thousands of

Jamaicans demonstrated an outpouring

of mystic affection for the Ethiopian

monarch. Everywhere, the same drums

were beaten, the bull-horns were beaten,

and chants (made even more interesting

by the new admixture of a local gibber-

ish of Amharic, were chanted.

Last night the Emperor was guest

at a dinner hosted by Acting Prime

Minister, the Hon. Donald Sangster in

Montego Bay. He leaves the island this

morning for Haiti at 8.30 o’clock for a

one-day visit. Afterwards he will return

to Addis Ababa by way of Geneva,

Switzerland, where he is scheduled to

spend three days.

Published April 24, 1966

Selassie leaves today

Enthusiasm kept at fever pitch | Several injured in Spanish Town

EMPTY,

TOPPLED,

TWISTED

CHAIRS, the

shambles of a

ceremony that

violence marred

at Spanish Town

when Emperor

Haile Selassie

paused for the

first rail stop of

his journey to

Montego Bay