PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti--Haiti’s annual Carnival, scheduled to be staged from Sunday until Wednesday, has been called off following violent clashes between the country’s soldiers and police.
On what was to be day one of the celebration at the Champ de Mars, members of President Jovenel Moise’s reconstituted Armed Forces of Haiti and off-duty members of the Haiti National Police and their supporters exchanged gunfire a short distance from the presidential palace.
Hours after the afternoon battle, government announced that the festival would be cancelled “in order to avoid the planned bloodshed.”
Reports indicated that at least one person was fatally shot in the head and more than a dozen other people were wounded.
The deadly clash came during a protest that was organised by police officers demanding better pay and working conditions and demanding that authorities accept their effort to unionise.
During the unrest, a stand that was built for the festivities was destroyed by the protesters.
While the government says it cannot increase the officers’ salaries, President Moise announced several other measures, including doubling the amount available on a monthly police debit card for 15,000 members of the Police Force; and the construction of a new police housing village with two-bedroom apartments that would be sold with a 25- to 30-year mortgage at 7.5 per cent interest.
Haiti’s Carnival was also cancelled last year due to unrest. ~ Caribbean360 ~
