Scene at a past street party in Gros Islet town.
Police are investigating a fight that broke out between a Caucasian man and a dread-locked man in Gros Islet town around midnight.
The incident reportedly occurred near the Lucian Peoples Movement (LPM) office during the popular Friday night street jam or “jump-up”.
An eyewitness told St. Lucia News Online (SNO) that several people, including LPM leader Therold Prudent, helped to calm the situation before it escalated.
Police officers responded to the report and the dread-locked man was led away in handcuffs.
Several persons gave conflicting reports to SNO of how the fight transpired. All claimed to have seen the fight. Some said the Caucasian man punched the local because he was being harassed.
However, none of the reports have been officially confirmed by the police.
One woman said “both guys walked away from the street jam seeming to be friends when the white man was seen giving the rasta (the dread-locked local) a punch to his eye and the fight started”.
She explained: “They walked away from the crowd, the ras hand was around the white man then the white man punched him in his eye and the fight started. I was right there. The white man and the ras were walking together like buddies when the white man punched him. Is after the scuffle was settled someone asked the ras did he know the guy and he said no; no one knows what transpired in the crowd which had them walking away together then one hitting the other.”
Another person, claiming to have witnessed the fight, told SNO: “The white man hit him first just because the (St.) Lucian hold his hand for a talk….. I saw the white man hit him first right in front me.”
One man told SNO it was the dread-locked man who started the fight, throwing punches on the foreigner mercilessly as eyewitnesses called on him to stop.
The man explained that the altercation started over a “business” transaction in which the foreigner complained of being short-changed. He further alleged that the local tried to calm and convince the foreigner that he had already paid him, when the foreigner threatened to call the police. It was at that time the local attacked the foreigner and the fight started, the man alleged.
It was reported that at least two fights broke out at the street party between last night and this morning. Details on those incidents are not available, and it is not yet known if arrests were made.
Every Friday, the street party in Gros Islet town attracts hundreds of tourists and locals who dance to pulsating music in the streets and consume a variety of liquors and local cuisine.
Despite the history of small fights at the popular event, police officers usually patrol the venue and the event is branded as relatively safe and peaceful.