Haitian police on Wednesday clashed with rock-hurling protesters in the capital Port-Au-Prince amid street demonstrations against President Jovenel Moise after his government retired three Supreme Court judges earmarked as his potential replacements, Reuters reports.
Police fired teargas and shot in the air in an attempt to disperse pockets of protesters, who pelted the security officials with rocks, according to a Reuters witness. The protesters also yelled “Down with Sison,” a reference to the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Michele Jeanne Sison.
“We are back to dictatorship! Down with Moise!” the protesters shouted as music blared from speakers amid chaotic scenes in the poor Caribbean nation of about 11 million people.
He says he can stay until February 2022 – but the opposition argues he should have stepped down last weekend, in a standoff over disputed elections. Washington has so far backed Moise’s claim that he should step down in February 2022 after presidential elections are held this year.
Aside from the US, Moise’s plan to stay in office until 2022 also has the support of the Organization of American States. But in a statement on Twitter posted on Tuesday, the US embassy in Port-au-Prince said it was “deeply concerned about any actions that risk damaging Haiti’s democratic institutions.”
The dispute over when the president’s term ends stems from Moise’s original election. He was voted into office in a poll subsequently cancelled after allegations of fraud and then elected again a year later, in 2016.
Police later moved to violently clear the demonstration and on several occasions were seen singling out clearly identified members of the press, including journalists from the AFP news agency. A group of journalists on Wednesday also complained to security officials about heavy-handed policing.
“Their job is to shoot the activists, throwing gas on all the press,” said protester Senat Andre Dufot.
Two journalists covering the protests received minor injuries when the police dropped a tear gas canister into a pickup truck, labeled as media, which was transporting journalists, according to reporters and television footage.
“We all noticed that they put a tear gas canister in the back of the pick-up [van] of the TV Pacific car,” he said, referring to a Haitian media outlet vehicle, while clutching a copy of the country’s constitution in his hand.
In a statement, the Association of Haitian Journalists called on the Haitian National Police authorities to “conduct an investigation to identify the perpetrators of these abuses so that they can be held accountable for their actions.
Officials loyal to Moise claimed on Sunday they had foiled an attempt to murder him and overthrow the government in a coup. Police arrested 23 people, including Haitian Supreme Court judge Yvickel Dieujuste Dabresil, accusing them of an “attempted coup”.
On Monday, the government issued an executive decree retiring the arrested judge and two other Supreme Court justices.
On Tuesday, Moise tried to force out three judges, including Dabresil, who were proposed as potential interim national leaders to replace him. Dabresil was released later on Wednesday from prison on the outskirts of the Haitian capital but remains under judicial supervision, according to his lawyers.
“When there are opponents fighting, the best way to eliminate them was to accuse them of fomenting a coup,” another protester, Ebens Cadet, said on Wednesday.
The decree appeared to be contrary to the constitution and Haitian law. In the end, the opposition chose magistrate Joseph Mecene Jean Louis, 72.
The latest political tumult in the volatile island nation comes amid a crippling economic crisis and a sharp rise in crime, especially kidnappings for ransom. The opposition is demanding Moise leaves power immediately, accusing him of acting like an authoritarian leader and violating the constitution.
The opposition says Moise should have stepped down on Feb. 7, when they say his five-year term in office expired, following disputed 2015 elections. Moise rejects that, citing a term that began in February 2017 after he won fresh elections in 2016. He has pledged to step down in February next year.
Police could not immediately be reached for comment.