WESTERN BUREAU: TWO PERSONS have been arrested and charged with assault occasioning bodily harm in connection with an alleged politically motivated incident in the Quarry area of Montego Bay, St. James on Monday.

Information reaching The Gleaner is that Patriena Campbell-Thompson, the People's National Party (PNP) Local Government candidate for the Montego Bay North division and her party workers were attacked while handing out voter's guides in the area. She was reportedly hit in the head with a bottle and three of her female workers also received minor injuries during the fracas.

The police did not release the identities of the accused persons. Commanding Officer for St. James, Superintendent Newton Amos, did not divulge the details surrounding the incident. He said that an investigation had commenced and a report will be forwarded to the Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro Blair.

"The matter is under investigation and is being viewed as a political incident and, as such, our political liaison officer has taken statements with a view of forwarding a report to the political ombudsman-I cannot comment further on the matter," Supt. Amos stated.

Dr. Horace Chang, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament for North West St. James, said that the incident resulted in a JLP supporter, Troy Moore, being hospitalised with serious wounds. He added that the two accused persons were Moore's sister and a PNP supporter, who was in the company of Mrs. Campbell-Thompson.

"I am going to keep my supporters calm, so as not to have increased violence in the constituency, which could reduce voter turn out, which we (the JLP) really don't want to happen," Chang noted yesterday. He also made an appeal to the PNP leadership to restrain their supporters and "not use violence as a strategy in the constituency."

The melee comes three days after a joint four-point agreement, aimed at suppressing tension between opposing Local Government candidates in the parish, was issued by the leaders of the two political parties and the police. The consensus was arrived at during a three-hour meeting convened by Bishop Blair at the Wexford Court Hotel in Montego Bay last Friday.

The discussions followed a request by the PNP for the Ombudsman to address apparent breaches of the Political Code of Conduct in St. James. The party had charged that three of their Local Government candidates, "were either attacked or experienced some type of intimidation from known JLP supporters." They also pointed out that pamphlets with slanderous information relating to two of their candidates were distributed.