OPPOSITION Leader Portia Simpson Miller last night urged Prime Minister Bruce Golding to use his influence to defuse the volatile situation in Tivoli Gardens and surrounding areas of his West Kingston constituency.

"All well thinking Jamaicans are concerned that the lives of innocent women, children and men of West Kingston are threatened by the misguided actions of a lawless minority in the community. The prime minister must take every possible action to ensure that this does not occur," the Opposition leader said last night.

She also called on Golding to take the necessary steps to ensure that students who have to sit the CAPE and CSEC examinations today are given safe passage to and from the examination centres.

The education ministry said yesterday that students from schools in West Kingston would sit their exams at other centres, but it was unclear what measures were being put in place to transport these students from the troubled Tivoli Gardens community.

Simpson Miller, in the meantime, expressed concern about the possible disruption to commerce in the business district.

"This situation carries the potential to cause further major damage to Jamaica's already embattled economy," Simpson Miller said.

She added: "None of the citizens of our beloved country should be made to feel like hostages because of the activities of criminal elements. The member of parliament must do all he can to ensure that peace-loving men, women and children in West Kingston are protected from any possible violent outbreak in that area."