In the 1940s and 1950s , a more militant brand of Rastafari emerged . The vanguard of this was the House of Youth Black Faith , a group whose members were largely based in West Kingston . Backlash against the Rastas grew after a practitioner of the religion allegedly killed a woman in 1957 . In March 1958 , the first Rastafarian Universal Convention was held in Back-o-Wall , Kingston . Following the event , militant Rastas unsuccessfully tried to capture the city in the name of Haile Selassie . Later that year they tried again in Spanish Town . The increasing militancy of some Rastas resulted in growing alarm about the religion in Jamaica . According to Cashmore , the Rastas became " folk devils " in Jamaican society . In 1959 , the self-declared prophet and founder of the African Reform Church , Claudius Henry , sold thousands of black Jamaicans , including many Rastas , tickets for a ship that he claimed would take them to Africa . The ship never arrived and Henry was charged with fraud . In 1960 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the government . Henry 's son was accused of being part of a paramilitary cell and executed , confirming public fears about Rasta violence . In 1963 , following a violent confrontation between Rastafarians and police forces at a gas station , the Jamaican government issued the police and military an order to " bring in all Rastas , dead or alive , " resulting in mass arrests , with many of those arrested tortured or killed in what would be known as the Coral Gardens incident . Clamping down on the Rasta movement , in 1964 the island 's government implemented tougher laws surrounding marijuana use
Coral Gardens incident
Coral Gardens incident
Rastafari