Pandemonium broke out at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre yesterday afternoon underscoring growing concerns about tension between the Haitian community and some Bahamians.
Late yesterday, no official had provided any formal report, but eyewitnesses told the Bahama Journal that the incident stemmed from an altercation between a detainee and a Defence Force officer.
The incident occurred around 1pm as scores of Haitians and Haitian-Bahamians were gathered outside and inside the compound because it was visitation day.
One eyewitness, Marie Fatal, claimed that she was there to visit a detainee named Jason Lyons.
“While I speaking to him, the officer was pushing him and telling him that he can’t stand there, he has to go behind the gates,” Ms. Fatal claimed. “He said ‘Don’t push me. I going right now.’ While he was turning around the officer just pushed him more.”
The woman claimed that the officer then started hitting the detainee.
“While Jason started attacking him, he took the gun and he broke it on Jason by knocking him in his face, his ribs and his leg, and another officer politely came and put him in a headlock.”
Within minutes, the visiting crowd at the centre became rowdy, getting into a fiery exchange with Defence Force guards who were guarding the facility, and Bahamians on the outside of the centre.
It wasn’t long before the Defence Force riot squad was on the scene to try to quell the disturbance. Officers were able to push the crowd that was on the inside of the compound outside the gate and cancelled visitation for the day.
Soon after, armed police officers arrived on the scene, but the crowd continued to make noise. Many of those who had come to visit started demanding that Haitian diplomats take a stand on what they insisted was the unfair treatment of detainees.
Defence Force Commodore Davy Rolle also arrived at the Detention Centre, but declined comment. Another Defence Force official said that reporters would have to speak with Immigration Minister Shane Gibson about the matter.
Some people on the scene claimed that they had used cell phones to get video footage of the alleged incident and planned to forward it to the U.S. press which several weeks ago had featured the Detention Centre in a negative light.
Haitian ambassador to the Bahamas Louis Harold Joseph said he was “very concerned” about the reports and at last report was on his way to the facility to “investigate”.
Mr. Joseph said that over the last two months the Haitian community in the Bahamas has become increasingly angry and aggressive.
When asked why, he said that some Haitians were angered by the incident just before the Easter holidays involving the apprehension of nearly 200 Haitians in Eleuthera, the vast majority of whom had to be eventually released after processing.
“The situation is very, very difficult because [the department of] immigration is very tough,” he said.
“Haitians are looking at the embassy to do something, but we recognize the rights of The Bahamas as a sovereign country.”
Mr. Joseph said that there are some Haitians who do not understand the role of the embassy and expect Haitian diplomats to intervene.
He explained that the role of the embassy is to promote good relations between the Bahamas and Haiti and to deal with consular matters.
Mr. Joseph said that consul Greny Antoine had gone to the Detention Centre yesterday to meet with detainees after the embassy received a report that one of them had been abused, but it was unclear whether the alleged victim was the same man allegedly in an altercation with the Defence Force officers yesterday.
While he did not have any details about the incident at the centre, Mr. Joseph told the Bahama Journal that he visited Eleuthera over the weekend and some Haitians there had been aggressive toward him.
Immigration authorities, meanwhile, are expected to make a report on the incident.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
