StJMC hastily removes ‘Free Gaza’ signs at airport entrance
Vernon says message not controversial but erected in breach of law
Published:Saturday | July 5, 2025 | 12:10 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
Persons traversing the roadway near the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday morning were greeted with an unfamiliar sight – several billboards nailed to palm trees displaying messages of “Free Gaza” and “No to Genocide, Free Palestine”.
While it was not immediately known who erected the signs, the messaging was in clear reference to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza; and appeared to have been designed to catch the attention of regional leaders who will be in Montego Bay this weekend for the 49th meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government.
However, the persons behind the signs might not have achieved their objective as the St James Municipal Corporation, and the police, quickly oversaw the removal of the signs, which were seemingly erected under the cover of darkness.
According to Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon, the StJMC had no issue with the messaging on the signs, but instead the fact that they were mounted illegally, particularly on the palm trees that form part of the façade at the entrance to the airport.
“We don’t have any problem with non-inflammatory political messaging and advertising. But, once you turn your messaging and your political advertising, or anything that you are putting out there, be it local or international, on a sign, then they fall under the Town and Country Planning Act,” said Vernon. “Once they fall under the Town and Country Planning Act, then the rules of the Town and Country Planning Act will take effect.
“We are not necessarily taking issue with whatever messages are there, because what are they asking for? They’re asking for peace… we’re not opposed to that. They’re asking for the end of war, we’re not opposed to that. But once you put that anywhere in the space as a sign, then naturally, it becomes the purview of the municipal corporation, and the relevant regulation will be applied.”
A motorist who said he was driving by when the signs were being nailed into the palm trees said he was quite pleased to see them as he had been quite concerned that not enough attention was paid to what he described as “the atrocities taking place in Gaza”.
“I was quite pleased when I saw the signs going up because I am not only upset with what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, I am very angry about,” he said. “I want to congratulate those who put up the signs because Jamaica has had a long history of fighting against injustice… . We did it with Zimbabwe and we did it with apartheid in South Africa, so it is a part of our nature and tradition to speak out against injustice.”
He went on to take Vernon to task, saying the signs should have been left in place to prick the conscience of the CARICOM leaders, who will be participating in the Heads of Government meeting which gets under way tomorrow and runs until Tuesday.
“The likkle mayor (Vernon) look like him love tek down signs and billboard. CARICOM too silent on what is happening in Gaza, and we need to remind the leaders that these are people like us,” the motorist said.
Vernon, however, seemed sympathetic to the cause behind the mounting of the billboards, but said he had no choice but to remove them because of the legal breach. He added that he was unhappy with the damage done to the palm trees.
“The signs have political messages. I don’t see them as controversial, they are messages relating to global events being advertised in a local space… . Our concern is that the signs were erected on the trees, facing the A1 Road within the vicinity of the Sangster International Airport and that needs a permit… a matter of fact, you cannot, based on the law, erect those signs on the trees. They are damaging the trees, and they are the amenities of the area, so we had to remove those.”