(Jamaican Gleaner) – Maroon Chief Richard Currie yesterday declared that he does not need permission to use any modern weapon to defend his people and their property.
“It is my duty to defend my people and it should be the duty of any leader to do the same.
“We are no longer in a time of bows and arrows and spears and slingshots, we’re in a time of modern warfare [with] guns, bombs and all manner of weaponry. I unequivocal reserve my right to defend my people using modern means as this is my right,” he said.
The Maroon chief made the declaration in a video posted on his Instagram page this morning in wake of reports that the Firearm Licensing Authority has launched an investigation into the circumstances in which Currie was seen with what appeared to be a shotgun strapped to his back during a confrontation with the police.
Currie reacted to the announcement by the Fire-arm Licensing Authority that it will be probing an incident in which he displayed a shotgun during a confrontation with the police in Accompong, St Elizabeth.
The confrontation reportedly occurred in the vicinity of a section of the Cockpit Country in Accompong, St Elizabeth.
A video of the incident, which emerged yesterday and has since gone viral, shows Currie and his supporters in a standoff with the police.
“The protection of my people and their property is my fiduciary duty and there is no power on earth of temporal or spiritual that can separate me from my duty and my undying love for my people and [my] duty to my people,” Currie said in his almost six-minute-long Instagram video.
“The members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the members of the Firearm Licensing Authority are not elected by my people. In the Cockpit Country, we believe in democracy and the political freedom of the people,” he added.
Highlighting the struggles of the maroons to acquire their lands, Currie stressed that they will continue to do their best to protect the “inheritance of our ancestors”.
