Haiti: Thousands protest – demand that President Moïse step down

AP | Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Haiti’s capital on Thursday to demand the ouster of President Jovenel Moïse amid months of protests.

Demonstrators want Moïse to resign for not investigating allegations of corruption in the previous government over Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan subsidized energy program.

They pledged to continue demonstrations through the weekend unless the president resigns.

Police spokesman Gary Desrosiers said one person had been killed, apparently in a shooting near a protest, 36 people arrested and four police cars burned.

The protesters marched, chanted and held banners in the streets of Port-au-Prince saying, “Where is the Petrocaribe money?”

Protesters lit car tires in the middle of the streets while police in riot gear were seen firing tear gas canisters.

Opposition leader Moise Jean Charles said protests will continue in the coming days until Moïse resigns, something Haiti’s president says he will not do.

“We will not stop, we will continue on the 8th and 9th of February to finish with President Jovenel Moïse,” the opposition leader said. “If Jovenel Moïse does not want to step down from power we are going to name an interim president in the coming days.”