Ali­cia Llanos

Po­lice say that yes­ter­day's protest at Beetham Gar­dens was sparked by the ar­rest of a well known gang leader.An­gry res­i­dents of Beethem Gar­dens lit large piles of de­bris on fire just be­fore 10 am yes­ter­day on both the bus route and the east bound lane of the Beetham High­way.The fires brought traf­fic to a stand still for mo­torists and trav­ellers com­ing in and out of Port-of-Spain.Ac­cord­ing to po­lice the protest was in re­tal­i­a­tion over the ar­rest of well known gang leader who was ar­rest­ed on Tues­day night at his Beethem Gar­dens res­i­dence.Res­i­dents al­leged they had been vic­tim to po­lice bru­tal­i­ty dur­ing the ar­rest.

Of­fi­cers from the Besson Street Po­lice Sta­tion ar­rived at the scene at 10 am to dis­man­tle the crowd and out the fires.No ar­rests were made.A po­lice of­fi­cer from the Besson Street Po­lice Sta­tion, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day con­firmed that late Tues­day night of­fi­cers from the Besson Street Po­lice Sta­tion con­duct­ed an ex­er­cise in Beethem Gar­dens and ar­rest­ed a want­ed gang leader.The of­fi­cer dis­missed claims of po­lice bru­tal­i­ty against the res­i­dents of Beetham Gar­dens.