Police opened fire Thursday during a street march in Haiti's capital to demand the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, killing at least one protester and injuring two others, witnesses said. The clash heightened tensions ahead of fall elections.
The shooting follows a spate of violence this week that saw two UN peacekeepers and two ex-soldiers killed in clashes, underscoring the country's shaky security climate more than a year after Aristide's ouster in an armed uprising.
Thursday's protest, one of the largest in recent weeks, started peacefully in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil with thousands of marchers chanting "Aristide forever!" and waving photos of the deposed leader.
Several gunshots rang out as the demonstrators approached the local police station, which was guarded by dozens of black-clad, heavily armed Haitian officers, including some positioned on the roof with their rifles trained at the crowd. A small group of UN civilian police was also present.
Protesters said the shots were fired by an anti-Aristide street gang trying to break up the march. The gunfire sent protesters fleeing down side streets and into buildings, but didn't apparently injure anyone. Police officers immediately dropped to the ground and aimed their rifles into the crowd but did not fire.
Shortly after, several black-clad police began shooting as a group of protesters reached a main avenue leading to Port-au-Prince's international airport, killing one man, witnesses said. Associated Press reporters saw police firing into the air and toward protesters.
The body of man who appeared to be in his 30s lay sprawled out on the sidewalk, his shirt soaked with blood and one of his shoes missing. A police ambulance arrived later to remove his body, which was surrounded by dozens of onlookers.
"It was a peaceful protest," said Candio Astral, an Aristide supporter who said he witnessed the shooting. "People weren't carrying any guns or sticks, but the police started shooting and everybody ran for their lives."
Charles Christner, a 34-year-old school principal who didn't participate in the protest, had just stepped off a bus when he was shot in the arm.
"All of the sudden I saw the police shooting and I got hit," Christner said while being treated at the nearby Pavilion Notre Dame Hospital, a flannel shirt tied around his bleeding arm.
Protesters said another man was injured in the shooting but the report couldn't be immediately confirmed. Police and UN representatives weren't immediately available for comment.
While dozens of police monitored the protest route Thursday, few UN peacekeepers were seen -- a marked difference from recent demonstrations.
UN troops had maintained a heavy presence at protests since Feb. 28, when police allegedly fired into a crowd of protesters marking the one-year anniversary of Aristide's ouster. Two protesters lay dead after the shooting, although police say they fired tear gas, not bullets.
"This only adds fuel to the fire. The protests for President Aristide will continue," said Tebe Jocelyn, an Aristide activist.
Thursday's shooting in Cite Soleil came days after two UN peacekeepers died in clashes with armed ex-soldiers who helped oust Aristide last year. Two ex-soldiers also died in the clashes.
Peacekeepers and interim authorities are struggling to disarm street gangs and ex-soldiers blamed for hundreds of recent killings.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
RSS