Haitian police bluntly dispersed a procession of opponents of President Jovenel Moïse on Wednesday marching in Port-au-Prince, also attacking journalists covering the demonstration.
The police made extensive use of tear gas canisters to disperse the few hundred young people who demonstrated against Jovenel Moïse, whom they accuse of illegally extending his presidential term.
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Police then repeatedly directly targeted their tear gas canisters against clearly identified journalists, including AFP journalists.
"Their job is to shoot the militants, throw gas on the whole press,"
denounced a protester, Senate André Dufot.
"We all found that they deposited a tear gas (grenade) in the back of the Pacific tele pickup
," he testified, a copy of the Haitian Constitution in his hand.
In a statement, the Association of Haitian Journalists then called on the authorities of the Haitian National Police to
"conduct an investigation to identify the perpetrators of these abuses so that they answer for their actions."
The procession left the faculty of ethnology with the objective of pleading for the defense of democracy.
Twenty-three people, including the judge at the Court of Cassation Yvickel Dieujuste Dabresil, were arrested by police overnight from Saturday to Sunday, accused by the authorities of
"attempted coup".
"We draw a parallel between the techniques of the father and son Duvalier and that of the apprentice dictator Jovenel Moïse", accused Ebens Cadet, a student.
"When there are opponents who fight, the best way to eliminate them was to accuse them of plotting a coup
," he added.
By a decree published on the night of Monday to Tuesday, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse wants to force three judges, including Mr. Dabrésil, who the opposition has designated as potential interim leaders, to retire, in a context of arm wrestling for the direction of the country.
Jovenel Moïse maintains that his mandate at the head of the Caribbean country runs until February 7, 2022. But this date is denounced by a good part of the Haitian population, according to whom the five-year mandate of Jovenel Moïse expired on the 7 last february.
This date disagreement arose from the fact that Jovenel Moïse had been elected in a ballot canceled for fraud, then re-elected a year later.