ARTICLE - RNDDH - MARTELLY-STUDENT CLASH

HUMAN RIGHTS ORG COMMENTS ON MARTELLY-STUDENT CLASH
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE – The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) is concerned that no authorities at the level of the presidency took actions to avoid the melee that occurred at the State University of Haiti last Friday. The RNDDH also noted questionable personalities working in the security detail of the presidency.

Furthermore, Pierre Esperance, the Director of the RNDDH said that security forces should receive professional training and formation. Reports have come into the office of the organization defending human rights, which have claimed that even civilians in the entourage of the president had discharged firearms, the director said.

Esperance says that the RNDDH has launched his own investigation to shed light on what occurred on February 17 at the School of Ethnology at the State University of Haiti.

The RNDDH extended its sympathy to the students that were injured, and to professors who had school property and their vehicles vandalized. Esperance says that no arrests have been made in connection to the incident.

The RNDDH says that they have spoken to victims, and to victims in shock. The director said that they have met with professors, who are still traumatized. Esperance said that for many, the communication that was released by the National Palace after the incident shockingly only condemned the attacks that were made towards the president but did not make any reference to students that were injured, or university property that was vandalized.

None the less, the RNDDH condemns those who threw rocks at the president, and his entourage.