With re­port­ing by Ot­to Car­ring­ton, Shar­lene Ram­per­sad and Akash Sama­roo

Res­i­dents of Beetham Gar­dens are protest­ing the po­lice killings of two young men and a teenag­er on Sat­ur­day morn­ing.

The three youths were killed by po­lice who claimed that they were bran­dish­ing weapons.

How­ev­er, res­i­dents say the young men were re­turn­ing from a par­ty and were not in pos­ses­sion of any weapons, nor have they ever had any run-ins with the law.

The res­i­dents say they have been killed by po­lice un­just­ly.

“The youth men were in­no­cent.  They were com­ing from a birth­day par­ty,” one res­i­dent told Guardian Me­dia.  “The po­lice had no case. It’s chil­dren they killed. They shoot every­body.”

Guardian Media correspondent Otto Carrington on the Beetham Highway, where police officers attempted to clear debris dumped by protesting residents. (Image by OTTO CARRINGTON)

Guardian Me­dia cor­re­spon­dent, Ot­to Car­ring­ton, re­port­ed from the scene of the protest that po­lice of­fi­cers kept re­mov­ing de­bris placed by res­i­dents from the high­way, but as soon as the po­lice of­fi­cers moved from one area to an­oth­er, the res­i­dents would put more de­bris and rub­bish in the mid­dle of the re­cent­ly cleared sec­tion of high­way.

Guardian Media correspondent Sharlene Rampersad shows vehicles being diverted from the Beetham Highway onto the Priority Bus Route, to avoid the protests staged by Beetham residents. (Image by SHARLENE RAMPERSAD)

And Guardian Me­dia cor­re­spon­dent, Shar­lene Ram­per­sad, who al­so is on­site, re­port­ed that the traf­fic was backed up for miles, as po­lice tried to clear off the de­bris placed by res­i­dents protest­ing the po­lice-in­volved killing of three youths on In­de­pen­dence Square over the week­end.

She said some of the traf­fic was al­lowed to di­vert on­to the pri­or­i­ty bus route to con­tin­ue west­wards or east­wards, de­pend­ing on their des­ti­na­tion.  Some mo­torists opt­ed to avoid the cap­i­tal city al­to­geth­er, which she said would have been the best op­tion un­til the sit­u­a­tion was re­solved.

Guardian Media correspondent Akash Samaroo shows the burning debris on Nelson Street in Port of Spain, lit by residents there in solidarity with their Beetham neighbours. (Image by AKASH SAMAROO)

Mean­while, Guardian Me­dia cor­re­spon­dent, Akash Sama­roo, re­ports that Nel­son Street res­i­dents joined protest in sol­i­dar­i­ty with their neigh­bours from Beetham Gar­dens.

He says Nel­son Street is now im­pass­able and com­plete­ly blocked by burn­ing de­bris placed there by the res­i­dents.

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (Ag), Mc­Don­ald Ja­cob, says at present, the Po­lice Ser­vice is re­ceiv­ing as­sis­tance from the Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion to clear up the de­bris be­ing dumped by the res­i­dents. He said the Fire Ser­vice is deal­ing with the burn­ing de­bris and tires as well.

Police officers on the scene of the protest by Beetham residents, attempting to manage the traffic situation. (Image by SHARLENE RAMPERSAD)

With re­gard to the rea­son for the res­i­dents' protest, the Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er said due process will be fol­lowed in terms of in­ves­ti­gat­ing the cir­cum­stances that led to the three young men who were killed dur­ing the po­lice op­er­a­tion on Sat­ur­day.

Members of the T&T Regiment have been deployed in full riot gear in the Sea Lots area, to assist with maintaining law and order. (Image by SHARLENE RAMPERSAD)

Mean­while, mem­bers of the T&T De­fense Force have been de­ployed to the area, to as­sist the po­lice with keep­ing law and or­der.

Burning debris on the Lady Young Road which caused police officers on the scene to make motorists using that route to enter Port of Spain, to turn around. (Image by BRENT PINHEIRO)

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands that at about 1:50 pm, La­dy Young Road was blocked com­plete­ly. Po­lice of­fi­cers on the scene were telling mo­torists to turn around, there­by cut­ting off ac­cess to Port of Spain from Mor­vant via the La­dy Young Road.