Several hundred police officers and sympathizers marched, mostly hooded and armed, in Port-au-Prince on Monday, September 14 to express their anger against the government and demand the release of one of their colleagues, creating panic in the Haitian capital .
Read also: Storm Laura: the toll rises to 31 dead in Haiti
"
We are asking for Pascal's immediate release and we are asking for an increase in wages: this is what we are asking for, a better life
" testified a member of the Haitian National Police (PNH) wearing a mask and sunglasses, so as not to be identified.
Regularly firing in the air with their service weapons, the demonstrators circulating on motorcycles issued an ultimatum of a few hours to the authorities to proceed with the release of their colleague.
An agent of the anti-drug trafficking brigade has been imprisoned in Port-au-Prince prison since early May for murder, arson, destruction of public property and endangering state security, according to the order. of the investigating judge.
Anger against the director general of the national police
While insecurity linked to armed gangs has increased in Haiti in recent months, the anger of the demonstrators is directed mainly against the director general of the national police, a position he occupies on an interim basis because there is no longer a functioning parliament. allowing its ratification.
"
Normil Rameau only works for (the president) Jovenel Moïse: the police die, take bullets and he never says anything
" lamented a police officer during the demonstration.
Friday, a similar mobilization of a group of police officers had already placed the Haitian capital under tension.
Burning twenty cars in their path, they demanded and obtained the release of five police officers.
On Monday, the group of protesters set fire to several vehicles and an administrative office was partially burned down.
"
The situation is taking on more and more alarming dimensions
," Renan Hedouville, head of the Office for Citizen Protection in Haiti, told AFP.
"
We risk losing the Haitian national police as we lost the armed forces
," he warned.
With some 16,000 members to ensure the safety of more than 11 million inhabitants, the Haitian National Police was created in 1994 following the dismantling of the army, then involved in several coups d'état.