Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has described Monday’s mass demolition at Cooper’s Pen in Trelawny as a “humanitarian crisis”, declaring that neither he, his ministers nor the constituency’s member of parliament (MP) had prior knowledge of the operation.

Addressing the controversial demolition exercise yesterday, Holness said images of displaced families, including a mother with a newborn baby, were disturbing and that the Government would have to find ways to support those affected.

“The images that we have seen are disturbing. My heart goes out to the families who have been dislocated,” the prime minister said.