Amnesty International To Haiti President: End Excessive Force Against Protesters

WLRN Public Media | By JACQUELINE CHARLES

Published November 1, 2019 at 6:04 AM EDT

Police fire tear gas as they try to block anti government protesters from reaching United Nations headquarters, in Port au Prince, Haiti, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019.

Amnesty International is calling on Haitian President Jovenel Moïse to guarantee the rights of Haitians who are taking to the streets to protest against his government, and to put an end to the use of excessive force by his security forces.

The human rights organization said Thursday that it has verified multiple instances of “security forces under the command of President Jovenel Moïse” using unlawful and excessive force, and it must end.

Amnesty said it verified the abuses by the 15,051-member Haiti National Police by reviewing videos of several incidents of police using weapons “indiscriminately and unlawfully, including launching tear gas out of a moving police vehicle ... firing on protesters with less-lethal ammunition at extremely close-range, and beating a protester.”

Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.