Jamaican capital 'relatively quiet'

By Susan Candiotti
CNN Correspondent

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CNN) -- The streets of Jamaica's capital were "relatively quiet" Wednesday after the Jamaican military moved in to halt running gunbattles between politically linked street gangs.

At least 22 people have died in gunbattles since Saturday, including two police officers and a soldier. At least 38 others have been wounded.

Deputy Superintendent of Police James Forbes said, "We've had no problems" as he summed up police operations overnight into Wednesday morning.

But he added that the number of dead and injured is likely to go up as the cleanup continues.

RESOURCES On the scene: Susan Candiotti reports on violence in Jamaica

"We do know these figures will go up. We expect them to go up," he said.

Debris still littered the streets around Tivoli Gardens and West Kingston, the center of the violence. Some people were back on the streets Wednesday, but police said foot and car traffic was far from normal.

Several vendors opened their stalls at Coronation Market, usually one of West Kingston's busiest markets. Several of the vendors said they remain afraid the fighting will erupt again. But Angela Williams, a clerk at a liquor store, said, "Everything has returned to normal. The last few days have been very rough."

Troops moved through West Kingston Wednesday morning, dismantling the last of the roadblocks set up by gangs.

At a press conference, police displayed at least six weapons and 140 rounds of ammunition they had seized as they cleared the area.

Police advised tourists not to travel to Kingston, but said the popular tourist areas north of the city are safe and secure.

In ordering troops into action, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said the Jamaican Defense Force had been authorized to "apprehend those engaged in criminal pursuits and undertake a rigorous and unfettered search into any area where there is reason to believe that illegal weapons are held or hidden."

"The government cannot stand idly by and allow criminal elements to hold the country to ransom," the prime minister said.

Patterson said he hoped that all businesses would be reopened, and the area cleaned up, by the end of the week.

Business leaders toured the hard-hit areas Wednesday morning and met with Patterson Wednesday afternoon to discuss the causes of, and possible solutions to, the gang-related violence that has plagued the capital for several years.

After the meeting, Patterson pledged that any complaints filed charging police brutality would be investigated. The opposition has accused some police officers of firing indiscriminately into widely populated areas during the fighting.

The violence broke out over the weekend between police and gunmen in West Kingston's Tivoli Gardens, a stronghold of the political opposition Jamaica Labor Party. Tension had been escalating for months between the country's two main political parties, and police had gone into the area searching for fugitives, guns and ammunition.

Since the outbreak, the island's tourism officials have been working their telephones, calling cruise ship companies and tour operators in an attempt to minimize the damage to the country's tourist industry, valued at $1.3 billion.

Most visitors go to resorts in the northern and western parts of the island, while the violence has been concentrated in the southeast.