Islanders erupt in fury at colonial ruler who stops them going home

The residents of the British Caribbean crown colony of Montserrat have dealt with more trouble than most. They coped with the young, rum-swigging Rolling Stones, Sting, Elton John, the younger, wilder Eric Clapton, and other rock stars who recorded in Sir George Martin's renowned Air Studios in the Eighties.

They have dealt with annual hurricanes, including the infamous Hugo, which wiped out most of their homes in 1989. In recent years, they have lived with an angry volcano that continues to erupt and has destroyed two-thirds of their island.

But now they are up in arms against a man in a white swan-feathered pith helmet who carries a sword on ceremonial occasions -- Her Majesty's governor, Anthony Longrigg. Some say he should resign, others plan to sue him and the Crown. They have sent a letter and petition to Jack Straw the Foreign Secretary, begging him to intervene. They hope Sir George Martin, a longtime resident, benefactor and regular visitor, will support them, along with stars such as Sting, Simply Red and Dire Straits, who cut some of their most famous tracks on the island.

The signatories claim that Governor Longrigg is keeping them from their homes and businesses, and thereby ruining what is left of the island's economy. He has become perhaps the most hated governor in recent times, even less popular than Clare Short, who in 1997 slammed the volcano-stricken islanders for asking for more help. When she accused them of wanting "golden elephants next," she was forced to apologise and had her wrists firmly slapped by Tony Blair.

Montserrat's Soufriere Hills volcano, a lush green mountain previously assumed to be extinct and the island's most popular tourist destination, erupted out of the blue in 1995. Gradually, pyroclastic flows -- avalanches of red hot gases, rock and ash -- buried the southern two-thirds of the island, including the picture-postcard capital, Plymouth, turning into a tropical Pompeii. Of the original 11,000 inhabitants, mostly black descendants of African slaves but many of them carrying the blood and surnames of the original Irish settlers, only 4,500 stayed on.

A line was drawn between the southern "exclusion zone" and a northern "safe zone", and the remaining islanders tried to get on with their lives, building up a de facto new capital in the village of Salem, fringed by a belt of luxury villas, including Sir George Martin's holiday mansion, in the Old Towne, as well as the Olveston and Isle's Bay districts. Now, many of those villas, including Sir George's home and the world-renowned Vue Pointe hotel, lie abandoned on the orders of the governor.

The volcano was relatively quiet for many months until late last year, when a new "dome" -- a mountain of rock lava -- built up and began to collapse. Scientists, mostly British, at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) decided the fringes of the "safe zone" were now at risk. So Governor Longrigg redrew the safety line and 300 more families -- some of whom had already lost their original homes or businesses -- had to move out again. The governor gave them barely 36 hours to find accommodation with friends, family or in shelters.

One American "snowbird" couple who came back to spend Christmas at their winter retreat were briefly arrested. Bob and Beverly Kleeb, a retired couple from Michigan who had ploughed their life savings into a hilltop villa and defied the eruptions for seven years, were ordered out by police despite insisting they'd rather die in their home. For their earlier defiance, their surname had given a new verb to the local language. "Kleebing it" came to mean "toughing it out".

Margaret Wilson, a popular long-time resident from Sunderland and partner of local black fisherman and watersports instructor Danny Sweeney, had to abandon their restaurant, Jumping Jack's, named after a song sung by a band he once taught to windsurf. Danny and Margaret have now tried to recreate the restaurant by the pool outside their Salem home.

The Vue Pointe hotel, made up of luxury hillside villas, was legendary throughout the entire Caribbean. After Plymouth was evacuated in 1996, the hotel became the hub of island activity. For a long time, it housed the island's parliament, the volcano observatory, the High Court, Roman Catholic masses and key social events. Now, it, too, lies abandoned in the new "exclusion zone." Sir George Martin's Air Studios, where the Police recorded "Every Breath You Take" and Dire Straits laid down their breakthrough Brothers in Arms album, had already been abandoned after damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. But Sir George's staff were still able to visit it, and clear it of volcanic ash, until it was included in the new zone. The former Beatles producer had hoped to sell it, perhaps as a radio station, but now it is totally out of bounds.

In the letter to Jack Straw, more than 200 islanders accused Governor Longrigg of "downright contempt... Mr Longrigg has little or no compassion for the social wellbeing of Montserrat."

Among the signatories, who hold among them a clutch of OBEs and MBEs, is a judge, a plethora of expatriate business leaders, a member of the local Legislative Council and even the widow of a former governor. One of the leaders of the protest, the American Paul Breuer, said he was "coerced" out of his home by the governor, and described Mr Longrigg as "Stalin in Montserrat."

In the letter to Mr Straw, the signatories accused British vulcanologists at the MVO of issuing "alarmist" reports about the state of the volcano. They said they had lived through more serious eruptions before the latest evacuation order. With the MVO's up-to-date equipment, adequate warning would be available for them to leave their homes, they said. "We do not believe any danger is imminent."

What the man whose official title is Her Majesty's governor, overseas territory of Montserrat, British West Indies – known locally as HE (His Excellency) – will make of these accusations of despotism is unclear. Yesterday the Soviet specialist who has spent much of his career in Communist Moscow, was not commenting.

What is certain is that island life continues this weekend, with Montserrat playing host to the renowned St Patrick's Day celebrations, which last even longer than Dublin's. They celebrate not only the island's Irish legacy from the mid-17th century, but a failed slave revolt that took place on St Patrick's Day 1768, when the Irish slavemasters were drunk. It is the only country outside Ireland where 17 March is a public holiday.

Phil Davison's book 'Volcano in Paradise' has just been published by Methuen (hardback, 14.99)