BLOCKADES were erected at all entrances to Tivoli Gardens yesterday, a sign of the heightened tension in the capital city after Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced Monday night that the attorney general would be signing the authorisation for the extradition process to begin against West Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

"The place just tense. We all a keep our fingers crossed," said one man in downtown Kingston, the city's business district where some stores re-opened after closing early on Monday after word spread that the Government had signed the extradition request.

Coke, the reputed don for Tivoli, is wanted by the United States for alleged trafficking in drugs and guns. The request for his extradition was submitted last August, but the Jamaican Government had delayed acting on it, arguing that the evidence presented by the Americans was gathered in breach of Jamaican law.

The blockades are a measure of the fear in Tivoli that the community is likely to be invaded by police and soldiers in an effort to arrest Coke.

Yesterday, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers kept a close watch on the movements in the city from a JDF helicopter.

The police, at the same time, appealed for calm and sought to assure citizens that they were not aware of any threat of violence, adding that the crime security situation in the country was being assessed on a continuous basis.

"We are appealing to all to remain calm and not to circulate false information capable of generating panic but to call Police Control at 119 or senior duty officers at 978-6462 and 927-7778 to report any such concerns or related information coming to their notice," the police high command said.

Meanwhile, close to the vicinity of Gordon House, police presence was heightened in what appeared to be part of an effort to ward off any threats to the security of legislators who attended a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and later the sitting of Parliament.

Police with high-powered weapons also took up duties on the roof of the parliamentary building while several others provided security around the House.