At least four people were wounded by gunshots on Thursday as police clashed with supporters of Haitian ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide after security forces dispersed demonstrators outside the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.
Heavy gunfire was heard late in the evening near the center of the capital, and there were unconfirmed reports that two people had been killed in the central market street Grand Rue.
"We have treated four people for bullet wounds. Other hospitals probably have more," said Frandze Augustin Charlier, a doctor at the Canape Vert Hospital in the Haitian capital.
PHOTO: AFP
"There was shooting in all directions," said Rodson Josselin, whose 54-year-old-mother suffered bullet wounds to the head and the right arm. He said his mother, a storeowner in the Grand Rue, was not involved in the protest.
He said several by-standers were caught in the crossfire between security forces and members of the pro-Aristide "People's Organizations," known as OPs.
Several people in the Grand Rue said two people had been shot dead and that the bodies had been removed, though there was no immediate confirmation of the claim.
This happened as Aristide supporters went on a rampage in the city center, hurling rocks at cars and setting up burning barricades, after police used teargas to disperse them as they protested outside the palace following a two-hour march through nearby slums.
One woman was given first aid by demonstrators in a street near the palace after being shot in the right arm.
"I was shot by the police," Nadia Joseph, 19, told AFP, as a motorist took her to a hospital.
"I was in the demonstration when I was shot," Joseph said.
At least two bursts of automatic weapons fire and isolated gunshots could be heard as the demonstrators scattered.
After the protesters left, two French military trucks briefly moved into position outside the palace.
Earlier in the day, newly-named Prime Minister Gerard Latortue had a first meeting with Boniface Alexandre, who was sworn in as interim president hours after Aristide resigned and fled to the Central African Republic on Feb. 29.
"We are on the same wavelength, we will work together toward national reconciliation," said Latortue, 69, who returned from Miami on Wednesday and is expected to announce a new government on Saturday.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS