St Thomas protest organiser arrested

The organiser of yesterday's massive road protest in St Thomas, Omar Ryan, has been arrested.

His attorney, Bert Samuels, says Ryan was asked to visit the Morant Bay police station yesterday evening as cops wanted to talk to him.

Samuels says when Ryan got there he was transported to the Constant Spring police station about 7 o'clock, where he was detained upon arrival. 

Ryan is being held alongside his colleague Andrew Turner. 

They are allegedly being held on suspicion of being involved in criminal activity.

Yesterday, the police were kept busy clearing roadblocks mounted by upset residents in protest of poor road conditions in sections of St Thomas.

While the protests were peaceful, for the most part, there were instances of rowdy behaviour, which resulted in further damage to some roads.

Yesterday, Ryan said that was not the aim of the demonstration.

The withdrawal of service forced several schools to suspend classes yesterday because of the low turnout of students.

Among the institutions that closed were Morant Bay High School, Seaforth High, Duckenfield Primary, Lyssons Primary and Providence Preparatory.

Up to late last night, some roadblocks were still mounted.