THE police have linked yesterday's attacks on buses belonging to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to the controversial killing of taxi operator Leroy Berry by law enforcers on Wednesday night.

The law enforcers were forced to increase patrols in Barbican and surrounding communities in St Andrew up until late last night, after men from the area stoned several JUTC buses that ply the route.

According to corporate communications manager at the JUTC, Reginald Allen, the company received reports of four stoning incidents in St Andrew. In addition the company has launched an investigation as to how a fire started on a bus in downtown Kingston, yesterday afternoon. That unit burnt to a shell."We believe the attacks were carried out by men protesting the shooting death of Leroy Berry," head of the St Andrew Central Police Superintendent Derrick Knight told the Observer yesterday.

"We believe that two attacks in the St Andrew Central Police Division were carried out by men travelling around in a white vehicle," Superintendent Knight said.

Berry, 40, was shot dead under controversial circumstances on Dumbarton Avenue in Kingston. Alleged eyewitnesses said he was involved in an altercation with the police and officers of the Transport Authority. However, up until Observer press time last night the police had not provided details as to how Berry was killed, but said that the incident was being investigated by the Bureau of Special Investigations.

Berry has had a series of run-ins with law enforcers, among them a 2006 incident in which his wife Margaret was photographed being beaten by members of the Island Special Constabulary Force in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew, after she jumped to his defence during an altercation with the police.

His death has left members of his family and his colleagues angry.

"The man was carrying home his wife and children and the police shoot him in front of him family," said Berry's brother who protested alongside several of Berry's colleagues outside the Transport Authority offices on Maxfield Avenue.

Meantime, the Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators has called on the Ministry of Transport and Works to intervene in the matter.