It was bound to happen: after the Noise Abatement Act of 1997, the new regulation in force in Jamaica, aimed at reducing night-time noise nuisance by banning dances after midnight on weekdays and after two in the morning at weekends, was never going to be easy to put in place.
The latest incident linked to the "curfews" imposed by the authorities saw the famous selector Fire Links brought before the court for refusing to obey the police order to switch off his sound system's music, an order repeated three times, at 2.30am, 3.30am, then 4.30am, when the time set by the licence issued to the selector was 12.30am. A scuffle between Fire Links and the crowd on one side and the police on the other is said to have followed and, taking advantage of the ensuing disorder, the selector is alleged to have fled.
The court has for the moment granted provisional release on bail of 30,000 Jamaican dollars and confiscated Fire Links's papers, preventing him from leaving the island until his trial on 11 July.