Res­i­dents of Beetham staged a fiery protest demon­stra­tion ear­ly this morn­ing, protest­ing a sew­er­age prob­lem in the area.

Ac­cord­ing to res­i­dents, raw sewage cur­rent­ly is flow­ing in the road be­cause of bro­ken sew­er­age in­fra­struc­ture in the area, which pos­es a se­ri­ous health haz­ard.

Res­i­dents blocked the east and west­bound lanes of the Beetham High­way, as well as the Pri­or­i­ty Bus Route this morn­ing, caus­ing grid­lock traf­fic for more than an hour.

Po­lice of­fi­cers were forced to di­vert traf­fic at the Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corp. com­pound on­to the Pri­or­i­ty Bus Route and then on­to the East­ern Main Road, while the de­bris was be­ing cleared by of­fi­cers from the Fire Ser­vice, as well as the Po­lice Ser­vice.

The res­i­dents told Guardian Me­dia they have been ap­peal­ing to their Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Fitzger­ald Hinds MP, since Oc­to­ber 2021, ask­ing him to have the sit­u­a­tion rec­ti­fied.  How­ev­er, their cries ap­pear to have fall­en on deaf ears.

Res­i­dents say they in­tend to car­ry out "a cit­i­zens' ar­rest" of their MP as well as the Prime Min­is­ter, in or­der to get their sew­er­age prob­lem solved.

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With re­port­ing by OT­TO CAR­RING­TON, ROSE­MARIE SANT and ANIS­TO ALVES