• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, January 29, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Haiti Capital on Lockdown After Police Attack Army HQ

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
02/24/20
in Featured, World
Police try to break up a protest in front of the National Palace in Haiti capital Port-au-Prince

Haitian police have struggled to control street protests as demonstrators call for the president to resign over alleged misuse of public funds. Photo: Hector Retamal, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was on lockdown Monday after Haitian police attacked the army headquarters to demand better working conditions, sparking a gun battle that left two servicemen dead and a dozen wounded.

The main roads through the city were blocked and smaller streets were deserted, leaving the capital cut off from the rest of the country.

In a statement issued late Sunday, the government said it had observed “with concern and dismay that terror has reigned in certain arteries of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.”

In order to avoid a “bloodbath … it has been decided to cancel the carnival,” which was scheduled to take place Tuesday, the statement said.

The government has made no further public announcements since then.

Police and soldiers opened fire on each other in Haiti, clashing amidst police protests over working conditions.

Haitians have long protested US-backed President Moïse's neoliberal policies and now police who violently repressed protestors are being met with the same repression. pic.twitter.com/GnlSAy5T4a

— redfish (@redfishstream) February 24, 2020

Embattled President Jovenel Moise is working on forming a new government, a source close to the country’s leader told AFP, noting that it was down to the police to restore order to the streets.

For months, Haitian police have been demanding better working conditions, in particular the right to form a union so as to ensure transparency in talks with the police hierarchy.

Last week, some officers took to the street, blocking them and setting fire to cars.

On Saturday, Moise announced limited measures designed to ease the crisis, including the creation of a compensation fund for families of police who die in the line of duty and a fund to provide officers with insurance.

The police had not reacted to the unrest by Monday. Some of the protesting officers went as far as to seize the keys to the force’s few vehicles and use them to block some roads.

The army said their headquarters were attacked Sunday by gunmen wearing masks.

“We are under siege. We are coming under fire with all kinds of weapons — assault rifles, Molotov cocktails, tear gas,” General Jodel Lessage told AFP during the assault.

He said soldiers had returned fire but did not give any casualty figures, nor could he say how many people were at the army headquarters, near the presidential palace, at the time of the attack.

The politicization of security in Haiti broke into the open yesterday as groups of police officers clashed with members of the new military. Some int'l officials will argue for a return of foreign troops – showing they have learned very little from history.

— Jake Johnston (@JakobJohnston) February 24, 2020

One of the protesting officers, who had been among five policemen sacked from their jobs, said that at least one of his comrades had been killed and several others wounded in the gun fight with the army.

The Champ de Mars, the area where the clashes broke out Sunday, was still inaccessible a day later. Even guards from the presidential palace — who normally conduct regular patrols there — were avoiding it as too dangerous to enter.

Haiti has witnessed a spike in kidnappings for ransom since the beginning of the year and fighting between rival crime gangs, which regularly set up roadblocks on Haitian highways.

The destitute Caribbean country has also been gripped by a political crisis for more than a year as people demand the resignation of Moise.

Since coming to power in February 2017, Moise has faced the anger of an opposition movement that refuses to recognize his victory in an election widely seen as dubious. Moise is also accused of corruption.


More on the Subject 

Why Has The World Forgotten Haiti?

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Demonstrators march in Port-au-Prince on February 14, 2021.
World

Thousands of Haitians Protest, Alleging New Dictatorship

by Staff Writer
February 15, 2021
An angry crowd of Haitians confront a group of Brazilian UN peacekeepers
Opinion

Haiti’s Political Disaster: An Internationally Sponsored Crisis

by Vincent Joos
December 23, 2019
Police try to break up a protest in front of the National Palace in Haiti capital Port-au-Prince
Featured

UN Ends Haiti Peacekeeping Operations, Urges End to Crisis

by Staff Writer
October 15, 2019
Police try to break up a protest in front of the National Palace in Haiti capital Port-au-Prince
Featured

Why Has The World Forgotten Haiti?

by Bryan Bowman
April 1, 2019
Police try to break up a protest in front of the National Palace in Haiti capital Port-au-Prince
Opinion

Haiti’s Recent Protests Expose the Lie of Democracy

by Marlene L. Daut
February 27, 2019
Haiti's new prime minister Jean-Henry Ceant
Opinion

Haiti’s New Government: Real Change?

by Vincent Joos
September 21, 2018
Next Post
Julian Assange

Trump's 'War on Journalists' Behind Assange Extradition Bid: Lawyer

Flanked by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, (R), and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (L), U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks a press conference in Geneva in 2017.

Human Rights Under Assault Worldwide: UN Chief

Recommended

The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post