Headlines:
| Hanover residents claim cemetery is contaminating water supply |
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| Sunday, 03 February 2008 | |
Chaos reigned in ShettleWood,
Hanover and neighbouring St.
James communities on Sunday afternoon as angry residents attempted to bar a
body from being buried at the Royal Rest Burial Ground. The protestors used stones logs and other debris to block the two main gates to the facility. The residents converged on the facility from early Sunday afternoon, adamant that no burial should take place at the cemetery. The cemetery is a short distance from the community's main water source. "This not a political affair, this the people's affair in Eastern Hanover. The people of Eastern Hanover are drinking this water and when you pollute the water, what are we going to do? If we have to take action then we have to do it because the government isn't doing it. The government is not doing anything so we have to be our own government. We have to show the government what to do," said a resident. Some residents argued that for many years they have been prevented from laying their loved ones to rest in the community yet permit has been granted for burial at the facility. "And nobody that live in the district can be buried here, so why should they bury people from out side here? Nobody respects us here. We are saying that nobody from outside can be buried here and nobody from the community can be buried here. Why should an outsider be buried so close to our water?" said Tyrone Grizzle, a resident of Shettlewood, Hanover. The cemetery has been at the centre of controversy for nearly two years resulting in massive demonstrations and several legal battles. This would have been the first burial at the cemetery owned by the operators of Delapenha's Funeral Home. |